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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

Apparently unpopular opinion: the word 'impact' is a noun, not a verb; 'impacted' is entirely off limits unless we're talking about molars; and 'impactful' is an abomination under any/all circumstances.

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Piwakawaka :tinoflag:
Piwakawaka :tinoflag:
@piwakawaka@mastodon.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@lightweight

Yes 'Impact' is a verb.  The verb got there first. Meriam Webster screen shot.
Yes 'Impact' is a verb. The verb got there first. Meriam Webster screen shot.
Yes 'Impact' is a verb. The verb got there first. Meriam Webster screen shot.
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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@piwakawaka thanks. I suspect the recent (last 5-10 years) increase in the use of 'impact' as a verb in various forms (or the adjectival 'impactful') is due to people - as @artnacrea speculated - not knowing the difference between affect and effect, which speaks more to their education than anything else.

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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@piwakawaka see also the almost universal misuse of 'less' vs. 'fewer'. Or (and I blame the country music community in the US for this) 'lay' vs. 'lie'. Or even the pervasive misuse of personal pronouns (I routinely hear, even among English teachers, including at a school assembly yesterday, something like "'her and I' did something". Her and I aren't even compatible - one is subjective, other objective. Wrong as the day is long. Big sigh. @artnacrea

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Andy Linton :tinoflag: ✅
Andy Linton :tinoflag: ✅
@artnacrea@mastodon.ie replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@lightweight

And I reckon that the use of impact in that context follows on from people struggling to use affect and effect correctly. It's "safer" somehow to substitute "impact".

And while we're at it a premise is not the word for a single instance of premises.

Ditto trouser, pant.

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Richard Hector
Richard Hector
@richardh@mastodon.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 10 hours ago

@lightweight @artnacrea I think the trousers and pants one is different. Both always come in pairs. Trouser is the correct word for a thing that doesn't exist.

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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 10 hours ago

@richardh I'd say it's an adjectival form for something related to trousers... similarly pant in the context of pants. "Sale of pants is the domain of the pant seller."
@artnacrea

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Richard Hector
Richard Hector
@richardh@mastodon.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 10 hours ago

@artnacrea @lightweight I was thinking about that. I still think the adjective might rely on what the singular is presumed to be? But I'm running out of linguistics (maybe I only had one linguistic to begin with?) :-)

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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 10 hours ago

@richardh for example, "the trouser inner seam is a bit short for his leg." @artnacrea

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Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@artnacrea I agree with your presumed causality - people seem not to value the ability to speak their own native language. It's very discouraging. As for premise, I full agree. I'd say it's premises for singular... As for trouser and pant, I hadn't previously thought about it, but upon brief reflection, I concur.😎

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