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Nanohedron
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Post by Nanohedron »

Flyingcursor wrote:The observations on this thread could be impactful.
Or impactious, impactive, impactory, impactile, impactoid, and impactworthy.

I've taken to verbing "cittern". It's easier that way.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Tribal musician
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Post by Darwin »

Nanohedron wrote:
Darwin wrote:Well, good old Webster's Ninth gives a date of 1601 for the transitive use of the verb, with one entry being:

2 a: to have an impact on : to impinge on

On the other hand, the use of "impacted" to refer to teeth only goes back to 1831. (I've been neglecting my little Webster's, not realizing until now that it incuded earliest use dates.)
My goodness. I honestly never heard the the transitive usage in my day until but some twentyish years ago, and it was decried by many's the anal-retentive Anglophone who bothered to hold it up as an example of The Decay of English. So much for scholarship.

This must have been one of those full-circle things.
Well, to be honest, quoting dates doesn't really tell us anything about how the word has come to be perceived in modern usage. I don't think I've heard the transitive form used much, myself.

We all experience discomfort when we hear words used in ways that we, ourselves, wouldn't use them. The problem is that, as you pointed out, living languages change and grow, and there's no holding them back, so it's best to be somewhat flexible.

I have my own pet peeves where my flexibility is challenged. I find substituting "I could care less" for "I couldn't care less" particularly grating. On the other hand, in spite of my distaste for "irregardless", double negatives don't bother me none. Must be on account of how I was raised.

Yesterday I even stooped to correcting my granddaughter when she said, "I've already tooken a shower."
Mike Wright

"When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place."
 --Goethe
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Nanohedron
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Post by Nanohedron »

There's a fellow who typically describes another fellow as "mercurical". No way am I going to correct him.
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Post by anniemcu »

So... when I finally get my wash-tub bass finished, I'll be on topic!?
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Nanohedron
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Post by Nanohedron »

anniemcu wrote:So... when I finally get my wash-tub bass finished, I'll be on topic!?
There's a tradition for it, so I suppose we'll have to reluctantly say yes. :wink:
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Tribal musician
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