That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means by Ross Petras & Kathryn Petras

Author:Ross Petras & Kathryn Petras
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

No, Bill, we can’t support that. “Impacts on” is clunky. Why not use “how it affects us” instead? Notwithstanding our objections, and those of many editors (albeit a steadily decreasing number), impact as a verb meaning “to affect” is here to stay. But let’s complain about it anyway.…

The argument over impact as both noun and verb has been going on for decades. It came from the past participle of the Latin word impingere (to fasten, bring into violent contact, thrust on a person), thus its main meaning then and now—as a verb, “to come forcibly in contact with,” as a noun, “a collision.” All fine and dandy. But over the years, impact collided with a changing world, and some more meanings were added.

First, for the noun: Impact now can mean having a dramatic effect on someone.

In the 1960s, according to an American Heritage survey, this usage was frowned upon, but by 2015 a whopping 97 percent of the survey said, “Fine, why not?” So you can say that both an asteroid hitting Earth and an insult had an impact on you and not be considered a grammatical incompetent.

Impact used as a verb with the preposition “on,” for example, “the insult impacting on me” is another matter. In the 2015 American Heritage survey, 78 percent disapproved, and so do we. But impact used transitively (without a preposition) meaning “to affect” was disapproved of by only 39 percent, down from 66 percent in 2001. So, sadly, resistance is probably futile.

impact (n) a collision; (v): to come forcibly in contact with; also having a dramatic effect upon

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