Learn English – “shout someone out”, or only “give a shout out to” someone (to recognize them)

american-english

I was listening to NPR's The Politics Hour when I noticed the unusual construction

They refurbished eight of our libraries, eight brand-new libraries in D.C. Public Schools, and I want to shout Target out.

I'm familiar with the phrase give a shout out to, which is something like hat tip to, a type of name-dropping expressing kudos. I thought the shout [name/noun] out construction might just be a slip of the tongue, because I've never seen it with this meaning with "shout" and "out" separated, but the speaker, DCPS chancellor Kaya Henderson (originally from NYC; this could originate there?) didn't seem hesitant.

Most of the instances of this kind of shout out in COCA are about giving a shout out (noun) to someone, like these:

I just wanted to give a shout out to my doctor…
I gotta give my shout out to them…
I would like to put a shout out for a whole profession of nutritionists…

the instances where shout out is a verb (that aren't about literally shouting) are rarer; I found just a few:

And we shout out to all of you here this morning.
Our hearts shout out to all of the bereaved families…

and I found no results for shout [noun/pronoun] out. There are a few, when searching Google for phrases like shout you out, but it seems uncommon, except for the unrelated meaning of removing stains (shout it out).

So, does it make sense to replace to give a shout out to [name] or to shout out to [name] with to shout [name] out? (If so, is this limited to American English? Particular dialects?)

Best Answer

You could try it, but it would be non-standard and likely misconstrued.

The order

verb => object => out

as in

shout Karen out

brings up all kinds of extreme associations, since out used in that way usually means to do something completely.

I kicked Jim out.

We threw them out.

Rachel found Jim out, finally. He'd been cheating on her for weeks.

You've got beer? Bust it out!

You two fight it out. I want nothing to do with this.

I thought I had the right word, but in the end I crossed it out.

This is out used in the completive sense of "at or to an end" (NOAD), so I would suggest to you that "to shout someone out" may not be the best alteration of the more familiar "shout out to someone" trope.

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