life-saved

[Phil White]

A friend of mine reported hearing the following on a news bulletin about a woman who was rescued from drowning:

"I was life-saved."

Thoughts? Comments?

[Bobinwales]

Verbing isn't always bad. It is usually painful. This one is abdominal.

[trolley]

Now, I'm thought-provoked. I'll bet she's life-changed after such an experience.

[Erik_Kowal]

"Life-saved" immediately places the speaker in a previously life-threatening context, and makes their rescue sound more dramatic than the plainer "I was saved".

Additionally, while the latter would be accurate, it would also be open to greater misinterpretation, especially by people belonging to certain Christian denominations.

[Phil White]

Yes, trolley, that's the grammatical oddity.

As far as the semantics are concerned, I do get the feeing that your life can be saved by anybody who happens to be there when you are in mortal peril, but you can only be life-saved by a (professional) lifesaver. Unfortunately, my friend could not quote the rest of the bulletin to confirm that it was a lifesaver that saved her.

[tony h]

I am struggling to make sense of "I was life-saved."

The only image that come up is that the subject was unwilling and it is ironic.