The angry thread

[Webbo]

The one that annoys me is "impact", used as a verb.

What's wrong with "affected by" instead of "impacted by" ?

Another one is "stakeholders".

What's wrong with "interested parties" ?

Best regards,


Joe

Stakeholders - I first think of someone helping to kill a vampire. All seriousness aside, surely a stakeholder has more at stake than someone who is just interested? English is a wonderful language and Shakespeare would have approved of what's going on especially considering he has been more guilty of introducing new words into the language than anyone else by a country mile. 

Webbo

[Sprintex]

'Stakeholders' is one of those buzzwords that seem to come into fashion and then get horribly overused in situations where it doesn't really make sense, similar to 'gamechanger' and the worst one at the moment - 'turbo'

I can see how a goal may be a 'gamechanger' in a football match, maybe by giving that team the impetus to play better from then on, but unless the subject of the conversation IS in fact a game then the word is just inappropriate. Doesn't stop the bandwagon-jumpers using it every five minutes. Not as bad as "turbo" though, especially when describing products such as razors (Mach 3 Turbo) and cleaning products (Cillit Bang Turbo Power). Does your razor/cleaner actually have a mechanical turbine/compressor unit driven from the exhaust (what exhaust?) To increase intake pressure? No? Stop calling it 'turbo' then! 


Paul

[joe cassidy]

There is one neologisme I do like :

"deal breaker"

Best regards,


Joe

[Ozymandias]

Fuming. Spent ages cleaning, servicing and testing a very sweet little Fleischmann 2-6-0 tank, got it running really sweetly and sold it on eBay.

The buyer has just sent me a request to return it because it arrived broken - the (very strong) postal tube I used to send it had been absolutely squashed flat in the post, despite the "FRAGILE" tape adorning both ends. All the valve gear's in bits and it looks like the shell is badly damaged.

It's not that it's cost me money, although it has - it's the sadness of a lovely loco being ruined by some clumsy oaf from the Royal Mail.  

[Newportnobby]

Having seen your work I am not surprised you're fuming, Gideon.

[NeMo]

It's not that it's cost me money, although it has - it's the sadness of a lovely loco being ruined by some clumsy oaf from the Royal Mail.  

Was it insured? I think Royal Mail Special Delivery insures to the first £50; thereafter you can pay extra premiums. Something like that anyway!

Definitely something to pass on (in terms of costs) to the eBay buyer.

Cheers, NeMo

[keithfre]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160825-why-medalling-and-summering-are-so-annoying

[Newportnobby]

Thanks Keith.
The problem with verbing is it's snowballing.
The article states it's because English speakers like it easy but, and I'm sorry, to me it's just being lazy or portraying a lack of knowledge.

[Malc]

I blame modern technology. Texting on mobile phones and abbreviations like UR and suchlike drive me up the wall when they are used in emails, posts on forums and not phone texts.

[Yet_Another]

That would be 'writing text messages on mobile phones' 

[Webbo]

Thanks Keith

I hadn't realised that verbing was so pervasive and has been going on for centuries long predating mobile phones.

I admit somewhat sheepishly to using the word 'golding' in another thread referring to the Olympics on the NGF last week. Much more efficient use of words than 'winning a gold medal at the Olympics' Unrepentant I am.

Webbo 

[dannyboy]

I blame modern technology. Texting on mobile phones and abbreviations like UR and suchlike drive me up the wall when they are used in emails, posts on forums and not phone texts.

No wot ur sayin. I evn h8 it on txt msgs. Wots rong wiv propr english? 

[railsquid]

posts on forums

Now there's a verb which has been nouned. If you asked someone 25 years ago what a "forum post" is, they'd probably imagine it's something to do with Roman architecture. Or a letter delivery service at some kind of conference.

[Malc]

Posts in that context is a noun, referring to the item, not the act of doing it. Similarly text on phones is a noun referring to the note, not the act of writing it. So there

[Newportnobby]

Presumably we are all foruming (at the mouth, maybe)?