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What effect is the new verb "to impact" having on the English language?
Thread poster: Tom in London
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:40
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Italian to English
Oct 9, 2016

Or if you prefer:

How is "to impact" impacting on the English language?
How is "to impact" impacting the English language?
How is "to impact" affecting the English language?
What effect is "to impact" having on the English language?
What impact is "to impact" having on the English language?

What's wrong with "to affect (have an effect on) something" or ? "to (have an) impact (on something)" ?

Is it happening because people don't kn
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Or if you prefer:

How is "to impact" impacting on the English language?
How is "to impact" impacting the English language?
How is "to impact" affecting the English language?
What effect is "to impact" having on the English language?
What impact is "to impact" having on the English language?

What's wrong with "to affect (have an effect on) something" or ? "to (have an) impact (on something)" ?

Is it happening because people don't know the difference between "affect" and "effect"?

[Edited at 2016-10-09 13:41 GMT]
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Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
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In memoriam
Let's liaise! Oct 9, 2016

Impact is only one of several nouns which have acquired verb forms in recent years. I think it is this growing trend which should be discussed in general.

"Liaise" is one such neologism. I'm pretty sure "liaiser" does not exist in French, which is where the noun "liaison" comes from. So I don't know how this trend is impacting on English, but let's liaise and we might find out!


 
Lingua 5B
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Not related. Oct 9, 2016

Jack Doughty wrote:

Impact is only one of several nouns which have acquired verb forms in recent years. I think it is this growing trend which should be discussed in general.

"Liaise" is one such neologism. I'm pretty sure "liaiser" does not exist in French, which is where the noun "liaison" comes from. So I don't know how this trend is impacting on English, but let's liaise and we might find out!


Yes, it's a loanword, but once borrowed, it takes its own course in the new language. Doesn't have to exist as a verb in French.

English is much more prone to creating verb forms out of its nouns, it is not happening (that) much or much at all in my native language. Yes, there are reasons for this but they are far too complex to discuss on this board. There are linguistic and extra-linguistic reasons.

[Edited at 2016-10-09 10:22 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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TOPIC STARTER
loanword=? Oct 9, 2016

loanword?

That's a new one on me. In fact, its effect has had a significant impact on me. Maybe it means a borrowed word.


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
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Japanese to English
Hardly rare... Oct 9, 2016

Tom in London wrote:
That's a new one on me. ... Maybe it means a borrowed word.

The term "loanword" is neither new nor uncommon. It was certain in wide use in language study when I was a student in the late 1980s.

As to your point about "impact", this touches a nerve. I find it "impact" very ugly when used as a verb. I worked in multinational corporations for many years, an experience that I thought had left me inured to business-speak, but this still makes me flinch.

Dan


 
Patrice
Patrice  Identity Verified
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Someone need a thesis topic? Oct 9, 2016

That is a question with many possible answers, most of them probably more philosophical than practical. I'm still trying to figure out why people use 'around' when 'about' has always done perfectly well. Maybe some M.A. student out there wants to take this on for their thesis.

 
finnword1
finnword1
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exactly, you can borrow it without having to pay it back Oct 10, 2016

Tom in London wrote:

loanword?

That's a new one on me. In fact, its effect has had a significant impact on me. Maybe it means a borrowed word.


loan·word

noun
a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.

[Edited at 2016-10-10 00:27 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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Italian to English
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Around Oct 10, 2016

Patrice wrote:

That is a question with many possible answers, most of them probably more philosophical than practical. I'm still trying to figure out why people use 'around' when 'about' has always done perfectly well. Maybe some M.A. student out there wants to take this on for their thesis.


Examples please.


 
matt robinson
matt robinson  Identity Verified
Spain
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limited Oct 10, 2016

It has limited impactfulness, I'll wager.

 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
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100 pages on this subject? Oct 10, 2016

Patrice wrote:

That is a question with many possible answers, most of them probably more philosophical than practical. I'm still trying to figure out why people use 'around' when 'about' has always done perfectly well. Maybe some M.A. student out there wants to take this on for their thesis.


: ) )

I'm sure someone already did this before or something similar. : D

I like it how native English speakers just spontaneously create new phrasal verbs in nano-seconds, and it will take a couple of years before these verbs reach the dictionaries or maybe they never will. Maybe Tom can open a separate topic for each new phrasal verb that pops up?


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Italian to English
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Much more than 100 pages Oct 10, 2016

Much more than 100 pages have been written on these matters, and continue to be written, by language scholars and experts.

What interests me is the process by which languages change by vulgarisation "from the bottom up" rather than through innovation on the part of a cultured linguistic elite. Do both happen? To what extent should these processes be resisted/accepted?

Like, that's what I mean. Get me?

"Sometimes these cogitations still amaze
The tr
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Much more than 100 pages have been written on these matters, and continue to be written, by language scholars and experts.

What interests me is the process by which languages change by vulgarisation "from the bottom up" rather than through innovation on the part of a cultured linguistic elite. Do both happen? To what extent should these processes be resisted/accepted?

Like, that's what I mean. Get me?

"Sometimes these cogitations still amaze
The troubled midnight and the noon's repose."

Prufrock and Other Observations (1917) - T S Eliot.

[Edited at 2016-10-10 09:41 GMT]
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Erik Freitag
Erik Freitag  Identity Verified
Germany
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. Oct 10, 2016

Tom in London wrote:

... a cultured linguistic elite. [Edited at 2016-10-10 09:37 GMT]


Like the one that doesn't know the term "loanword"?


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:40
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
No. Oct 10, 2016

Erik Freitag wrote:

Tom in London wrote:

... a cultured linguistic elite. [Edited at 2016-10-10 09:37 GMT]


Like the one that doesn't know the term "loanword"?


No. Try to say something serious.

I mentioned Eliot because in his poetry (and in modernist literature in general) "high language" is mixed with "the language of the street".

[Edited at 2016-10-10 09:49 GMT]


 
Ramunas Kontrimas
Ramunas Kontrimas  Identity Verified
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English to Lithuanian
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two recent articles on the subject Oct 10, 2016

https://www.1843magazine.com/content/ideas/anthony-gardner/youve-been-verbed

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


 
Merab Dekano
Merab Dekano  Identity Verified
Spain
Member (2014)
English to Spanish
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It's a jargon Oct 10, 2016

Dan Lucas wrote:

Tom in London wrote:
That's a new one on me. ... Maybe it means a borrowed word.

The term "loanword" is neither new nor uncommon. It was certain in wide use in language study when I was a student in the late 1980s.

As to your point about "impact", this touches a nerve. I find it "impact" very ugly when used as a verb. I worked in multinational corporations for many years, an experience that I thought had left me inured to business-speak, but this still makes me flinch.

Dan



I’ve seen it in several business presentations, mainly used as “financial impact”, etc., but also as "this project will impact out PL..."

The Spanish language adopted it from the English language (again, mainly business Spanish), and both languages adopted it from French. The latter adopted it from Latin. Latin adopted it from what, Sumerian?

When I hear “impacto/impactar” in Spanish, I usually imagine something smashing straight into my face and my family rushing me to the hospital.

The same goes for the verb “lanzar”. It’s mostly mis(used) when people refer to “launching a product”. To me “lanzar un product” sounds like throwing it into someone’s face, which undoubtedly will produce a strong “impacto” on the individuals face, a fully-blown crime in the Western world.


 
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What effect is the new verb "to impact" having on the English language?






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