17

As far as I understand copy-and-paste is used to mean the operation of copying, and pasting. If somebody did that, can I say (for example) the following?

She copied-and-pasted what I wrote on my blog, changed some words, re-ordered some phrases, and then published that on her own blog.

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    I think both this use and that put forward by @EricS are acceptable; and EricS' version falls better on the ear.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Mar 10, 2013 at 15:09
  • @StoneyB I agree that both are acceptable, except that if I wrote "She copied and pasted", I wouldn't use hyphens.
    – user230
    Mar 10, 2013 at 22:14
  • @snailplane I wouldn't either; but I wouldn't throw a hissy fit if somebody else did. :)
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Mar 10, 2013 at 22:17
  • Related: english.stackexchange.com/questions/51966/…
    – baptx
    Feb 29, 2016 at 19:26

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
14

"Copied-and-pasted" would be totally understandable, but more often I hear "copy-pasted." This stems from the fact that most people seem to say "copy-paste" rather than "copy-and-paste" nowadays. So yes, your sentence makes sense and is correct, but more common would be these:

We don't have time to retype it, just copy-paste it and let's go!

I didn't want to type the whole page by hand, so I found the book online and copy-pasted the relevant section.

Improve this answer
4
  • I've never thought about this before. Is this the birth of a new verb, "to copy paste"? I see it written "copy paste", "copy-paste", "copy/paste", and "copypaste".
    – user230
    Mar 10, 2013 at 22:22
  • @snailplane Indeed! I usually use it in speaking rather than written language, but it could be written in any of those ways. (In my head I think it as "copy/paste", though I don't know if it counts as a word when it has a '/'? ;)). But yes, I say this quite often and have heard it from others as well, so I think it is becoming quite common!
    – WendiKidd
    Mar 10, 2013 at 22:44
  • 2
    Lets not forget "copypasta", the stuff that was copied.
    – Ryan Amos
    Mar 11, 2013 at 4:15
  • @Ryan Oh, good point! But just to be clear (for the sake of ELLs), "copypasta" is generally considered slang, not Standard English.
    – user230
    Mar 11, 2013 at 4:42
3

It's much more common to hear:

She copy-and-pasted what I wrote...

Improve this answer
1

"Copied-and-pasted" would be the adjective form. "Copied and pasted" is a phrase containing two past-tense verbs.

"She copied and pasted a copied-and-pasted comment."

Improve this answer
1
  • What are you basing this on?
    – CJ Dennis
    Apr 10, 2020 at 12:36
0

I think we don't even need to mention "paste'. If we use the word "copy" only then it will also mean as copy-paste. e.g. If I am reading a blog in which blogger has used the content from my blog then I can comment as "Mr. ABC has copied the content of by blog". It means that Mr. ABC has copied from my blog and pasted for his usage.

This comment is based on my own understanding, if am mistaken then please rectify.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    While it is true that it is often unnecessary to mention the paste part of the action, it is common practice. Especially if the copy is purely verbatim.
    – Chenmunka
    Jul 6, 2017 at 10:47

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .