[Hermes]

... actually impact's third definition is "effect" according to your link!

[HeckuvaJob]

Way too go Shanny. Your the best!

[biofuel13]

Yeah this gets me p*ssed off too. About a month back when we were called into the "Big Corporate Meeting" I just about stood up and started screaming at the VP and Director of the department for their choice of words. According to them several dozen employees were about to be "impacted". During the course of a half hour meeting these two slimeballs used the word impacted about 15 times. Apparently they just aren't able to pronounce the word "LAYOFF".


So in corporate Amerika....Impact also equals layoff.

Now I'm all p*ssed again just thinkin about it.lol

[diemos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('biofuel13', ' ')Apparently they just aren't able to pronounce the word "LAYOFF".

[TWilliam]

Shanny, I don't think that 'selective' use of language is always necessarily intended as Newspeak.

Language impacts (as in, 'influences') not only the way we frame a problem, but also the way in which we think about it, whether we're motivated and sometimes even able to solve it. At the very least, it influences the way we feel about dealing with it, which again, can impact our effectiveness in doing so.

In fact the very use of the word 'problem' is a perfect example. Many people hate even the thought of dealing with 'problems', but many of those same people actually enjoy meeting and overcoming 'challenges'.

Never underestimate the value of attitude...

[oxj]

Yeah! I'm so sick of this word being used in this way.

Consider the reason it's used for "effect" and "affect." You'd think it might be because the word is a sensationalist way of saying these things. But perhaps that's not the reason.

It has clearly been appropriated by the mainstream media as well as by marketers for the meanings of "effect" and "affect" because it became too much trouble for their stupid writers and editors to distinguish the difference between the two words! Instead, they can just employ this one word without having to think about the meaning. (Are they indeed stupid? Just consider any newspaper.)

By the way, "utilize" is a stupid word, too. Simply utilize the word "use," instead. This error is actually called "love of the long word."

There are other examples of this, but the most striking ones are attempts to correct our pronunciation... (don't even get me started with our recently lost ability to select the right number for the link verb)

Recently I was listening to NPR trying to convince me that "neanderthal" should be pronounced with a "t" sound instead of with a "theta" sound for "th" in the word. In fact, both are acceptable ("\nē-ˈan-dər-ˌtȯl, -ˌthȯl; nā-ˈän-dər-ˌtäl\," from http://www.m-w.com). It was hilarious. It's because the report mostly included Germans who have not this "theta" sound in their language. And at the end of the report, an American researcher used the "theta" sound.

What about the change from "Mos-cow" to "Mos-coh" and "harass'ment" to "har'assment?" I'd blame it on the rising fashion of British-sounding English here in America as more and more Eurotrash have entered our country, but the latter happened before the former, probably because saying "ass" in public is a form of harassment.

I wish the media and marketers would quit trying to craft our language...

TWilliams, your point is like behavioral therapy. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and a steamy stool would still be as steamy, therefore I must ask, are you really so simple as to be played like a flute by your therapist? At least, this is problematic, which is another stupid word, albeit I love French I still can't stand this word.

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oxj', 'T')Williams, your point is like behavioral therapy. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and a steamy stool would still be as steamy, therefore I must ask, are you really so simple as to be played like a flute by your therapist? At least, this is problematic, which is another stupid word, albeit I love French I still can't stand this word.