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Subject:RE: I just heard another one From:"Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com> To:"Kate Hough" <krhough -at- gmail -dot- com>, "Keith Hansen" <KRH -at- weiland-wfg -dot- com> Date:Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:39:26 -0600
Still hate it, unless you're using "impacted" to describe wisdom teeth
-- definitely not a phenomenon I'd care to experience, either, for that
matter :)
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Kate Hough
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 3:44 PM
To: Keith Hansen
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: I just heard another one
I really hated "impacting" when I first heard it too (in place of
"having an impact on"). But I heard somewhere since then (sorry for
absence of source) that this use of "impact" has long been accepted in
standard written English. My guess is that I got this from Style: The
Basics of Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams, the main book that we
read in my style class when I was in a professional writing master's
program. Merriam-Webster Online not only considers it valid to use
impact as a verb, but the dictionary numbers the verb definition of the
word lower than its noun definition (though I'm operating under the
possibly erroneous assumption that lower numbers beside definitions mean
that the definitions in question are more commonly used and widely
accepted than those preceded by higher numbers).
A lot of the definitions at dictionary.com show noun definitions of the
word before verb definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impact -- so maybe
Merriam-Webster and I are misguided.
In other news, I totally hated the verb "transition" when I first heard
it
-- also included in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and citations
at dictionary.com. And please don't ever get me started on the use of
the nominative case in the direct-object or object-of-the-preposition
sentence position...much yelling and gnashing of teeth may ensue.
Thanks for the diversions today. I just started a job search, and it's
lovely to be able to "geek out," as one of my techie friends would put
it, on words and language.
~ Kate
On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:45 PM, Keith Hansen <KRH -at- weiland-wfg -dot- com>
wrote:
> So "transaction" has become "transactioning"?!
>
> Similarly, "impact" has become "impacting." (Example: "The new IRS
> rules are impacting our business greatly.") What is consensus on that?
> It's so commonly done, I expect it will become an accepted part of the
> language. (Perhaps it already is?!)
>
> Keith
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: RE: I just heard another one
>
> I'm thinking that your thinking might have been momentarily fogged by
> a stultifying encounter with "transactioning".
> <snip>
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