What is it about the word verve? It does absolutely nothing for me, and it really seems like it should do. I never use in writing nor in speech; it never even occurs to me to do so.
It is a characterful, even eccentric word. It could even be quirky. It seems, on paper, to be such a me word. So why should my mind so utterly boycott its employment without any concrete direction from me, its nominal master? It is a mystery, and probably not one worth the effort to solve.