How do you use the word 'Infest' in the right way?

Hahaha. Sorry, couldn’t help but smile when I read your example sentence.

Nah, ‘infest’ is the wrong word to use. If someone’s being bad towards me, I’d say something along the lines of “Stop giving me that bad attitude”. If you really do want to use the word ‘infest’, you could say, “Your bad attitude is infesting the place”, although that’s kinda weird.

You can’t infest something towards someone/something. However, something can infest someone/something. It’s generally used when mean little disgusting foul creatures are taking over and swamping an area, such as children at the library.

@Saturated Brain – that’s what I thought, but look at this definition, it sort of gives a different slant on its usage

infest
1477, “to attack, assail, hurt, distress, annoy,” from M.Fr. infester, from L. infestare “to attack, disturb, trouble,” from infestus “hostile, dangerous,” originally “inexorable, not able to be handled,” from in- “not” + -festus ”(able to be) seized.” Sense of “swarm over in large numbers” first recorded 1602.

“May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your lower regions.” ?

@rooeytoo Well if we were to use the Late Middle Age definition @fish4answers‘s usage of the term would still be incorrect. He would then have to say “Don’t infest me with your bad attitude.” or the Late Middle English equivalent of the phrase.

But since we’re living in 2009 I don’t think that that’s much of a problem. =)

@NaturalMineralWater What about armpits?

I’m pretty sure you can use it as a verb like that.

“Don’t infest my mind with such petty ideologies”

where’s jeruba, gail, et al when you need them

Maybe you want to say “Don’t inject your bad attitude into the situation.”

1 a : to introduce into something forcefully <inject fuel into an engine> b : to force a fluid into (as for medical purposes) <inject a drug into the bloodstream>
2 : to introduce as an element or factor in or into some situation or subject <condemning any attempt to inject religious bigotry into the campaign source

The problem is more with the structure of that sentence than with your choice of verb. If you say “Don’t infest your bad attitude toward me”, then it’s “attitude” that gets infested, not “me”. “Don’t infest me with your bad attitude” is more what you’re trying to say, I think.

“Infest” is an unusual choice here, but it’s not incorrect, and it does get the point across in a colorful way.

“Don’t infest my mind with such petty ideologies” or don’t infest me with your bad attitude” sound correct. Thanks! though I don’t mind using May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your lower regions. hehehe

I prefer to simply say “Behave! Or leave.” Short and to the point.

Great word choice! Infest is what I call a very “actable” word – you can visualize a great deal with it, yet most of all, you can “do” a lot with it. Used appropriately it will act for you. So, Bravo!, regarding your selection.

Beyond the initial rules of grammar, when I find a word I like, and I want to apply it to a situation within a sentence I am crafting, I always try to value-size the root word I begin with, in order to see if I could flush out a richer and more colorful approach to what it is I want to say. Then, I sometimes, for fun, strain the word and the intention behind it through the Shakespeare Funnel (I made that up, I think… probably not) , to blast it about for a while, and see where it lands.

Identify your aim. Let the objective – what you want to accomplish in using the word – rule your application of it. Think beyond the word itself, and earn your right to deliver it effectively, by understanding the appropriate grammatical rule, and then messing around and riffing with it. Say the sentence out loud. Take it for a test drive, by saying it, in a sentence, or in fragments, to several different people – or the collection of imaginary characters hovering around you, the ones instantly summoned forth to converse with you in moments like these. Does it feel right? Does it fit? Am I accomplishing what it is I had set out to accomplish in the first place…? Or have I found something better. Or worse. You decide. Take the ride! See where it leads you.

“I sense this unseemly vile infestation oozing about the beauteous world I long to inhabit, whenever your hideous presence arrives upon my sacred doorstep.” – FB

inflict. the word your’e looking for is inflict. “infest” relates to insects or unwanted elements (more than one) doesn’t work something like an attitude.

My roses are infested with Japanese Beetles. I am about to inflict damage by drowning them in water and ammonia.

I have an attitude about bugs that eat my garden.

FB: _I think you mean “flesh out.” or to add more details. I just flushed out a pheasant from the rushes. And “to strain a word” is really straining the use of figurative speech.

II agree with @trailsillustrated. I think you wanted to say “Don’t inflict your bad attitude on me.” That means “Don’t make me a victim of your bad attitude” or “Don’t make me suffer with your bad attitude.”

Whereas you could conceivably stretch the meaning of “infest” to apply in your situation (changing the construction of your sentence accordingly), it would be a very unusual and poetic usage, and the rest of your speech would have to be up to that standard, or it would just sound like a mistake—a wrong word choice.

Aaron Copland wrote a curious orchestral piece whose name I’ve forgotten that is meant to sound like a small-town band playing in the square, complete with “deliberate” errors and artful discords. Unfortunately I heard it played by an ensemble of amateurs, and it just sounded like nothing but mistakes. You can’t pull off something like that unless you are a master.

I have an idea! Why don’t we just combine everything together?

“Don’t infest me with the bad attitude you’ve injected into the situation, or else you shall have serious harm inflicted upon your being. And if you have a problem fleshing that out in your head, let me show you my fist instead.”

@Saturated_Brain: Find an agent and a publisher immediately.

I still prefer the fleas of a thousand camels analogy. Reminds me of Johnny and his Carnack.

Alternative possibility: “Don’t infect me with your bad attitude.” This implies that the bad attitude is like a contagious disease and you don’t want to be contaminated by it.

If you sleep with your sisfer, you commit infest.

good one ratboy, especially if you have said fleas!

yeah I think the word is inflict! thanks to @trailsillustrated for saying the right word. I also liked the idea when everyone combined all the sentenced. thanks too. But I’m beginning to like the word infest too.

Fluther has infested my brain enough tonight. I’m hitting the hay, goodnight all.