impacted, annoying usage

Right on the heels of feed sacks that give me heartburn, are people who use the word 'impacted' in ways that make me shudder!

I'm listening to the CBC, a woman is being interviewed about running for some mayoral election.
"Tell us a bit about what makes you think you are qualified for this job," says interviewer.
"Well, I'd like to inject new energy into the city, bring my new ideas to the table and I have experience because I work for some hoity toity firm that impacts upwards of 10,000 people's lives every day."

Right there I wanted my foot to impact the seat of her pants and had I been present, I might have hurled a tomoato and laughed as it impacted her head.

Ugh! Wisdom teeth become impacted, impact is what happens when your truck hits an elk. People who use the word impact to describe their effect on something are trying way too hard to sound way too important. If you spend your days in a Zamboni running down unsuspecting shoppers in parking lots as they put their groceries in the car, then YES, you have an impact on people! Otherwise, you reach people, effect people, help or irritate people...but you do not impact them with anything your stupid little firm does!

There ARE places 'impact' is suitable to use, but the average daily conversation about how your grandiose ideas of your own far reaching fabulousness is not ususually the right place! When I hear the word impact it is usually associated with something big and negative. Forces colliding. You really have to think highly of yourself to assume that everything you do is a force that is about to collide negatively with something. Puhleeze! The pine beetle has impact. Football players have impact. Nuclear devastation has impact. Law firms do not, unless you are refering to the effect on your wallet, but that can simply be called a devastating effect. No need to drama it up and call it an impact.

I suppose if your pantyhose are chaffing and your high heels are pinching and you wonder what the meaning of your life is, you might be driven to use words like 'impact', to validate what you endure, day to day. I have no patience for it though. ALl I know is that when I wander out to feed horses and shovel manure, if I find anything out there looking off and impacted, it is not a good thing!

I am surprised you are also not raving about the same quote using the term 'inject' as in "...I'd like to inject new energy into the city..."

It's another overused term that makes me think of a giant syringe.

My most disliked overused term is "touch base". It seems to permeate education-speak and not just when referring to baseball!

Sue

Apparently, someone has impacted your life in such a detrimental way, that would make you consider running down people in a grocery parking lot with a Zamboni. I would certainly opt for a faster moving weapon of destruction than that.

Myabe we could inject some life into this impacted world

Well, I'd like to inject a statement that would make a real impact on this thread, but I'm afraid my mind is blown, so I'll have to touch base later.

I have a buddy who is a medical doctor and this thread reminded me of a story he once told me of an older fella he had to treat for an impacted colon. There was also something about how he had to inject something for treatment!
Sorry 'bout that, you just brought back a bad memory of $hity storey.

Oh I'm so glad you feel that way Uno - that usage makes me crazy too. Turning nouns into verbs as a rule is the way to madness. Since when does "affected" not do?

I love it when people misuse the term "fulsome" too....

Heda, as in, "you can fulsome of the people some of the time but you can't full all of the people all of the time?"

Injected. All that I thought of when I read that is, fuel injected? Nope, still carburated. NOT carbonated!

Hillbilly, I am not considering running down shoppers with a Zamboni, that was a figure of speech. HOwever, I feel a Zamboni does give the intended targets a fighting chance to flee. But they're pretty quiet, aren't they? RUn down by stealth Zamboni attack? Attack of the Zambonis? Night of the living Zambonis?

But impact still bugs me. And people who say szjedule, instead of skedule (schedule). Szjedule sounds like some horrible spasm of the throat muscles. If school is skool, and schooner is skooner, then schedule is skedule and that's just the way it is because I said so!

When I see the word "Impacted" I think of constipation.





I can't take the word seriously.

uno wrote:Heda, as in, "you can fulsome of the people some of the time but you can't full all of the people all of the time?"

Injected. All that I thought of when I read that is, fuel injected? Nope, still carburated. NOT carbonated!

Hillbilly, I am not considering running down shoppers with a Zamboni, that was a figure of speech. HOwever, I feel a Zamboni does give the intended targets a fighting chance to flee. But they're pretty quiet, aren't they? RUn down by stealth Zamboni attack? Attack of the Zambonis? Night of the living Zambonis?

But impact still bugs me. And people who say szjedule, instead of skedule (schedule). Szjedule sounds like some horrible spasm of the throat muscles. If school is skool, and schooner is skooner, then schedule is skedule and that's just the way it is because I said so!

Hey- that's how I train people to say Schipperke properly! You can imagine the pronunciations I hear.

Sue

Please let me add fuel to this fire.

Pet peeve missused words.....

OrienTATed... is is not tated, it is oriented.

AluMINImum... is it not mini it is aluminum

IRRregardless... double negative! it is just plain regardless

and I am irked at the place that disrespected has taken in society. It is not "He disrespected me." It is "He was disresepctful to me".


GRRRRRR

And I agree, impacted says "unable to poop" to me.

I work at a small lumberyard/hardware store and see a lot of construction contractors. It always amazes me how many say 'floor joices' instead of 'floor joists'.

And my boss's favorite phrase to overuse is 'heads up'. "Just giving you a heads up about blah, blah, blah..."

uno wrote:
Hillbilly, I am not considering running down shoppers with a Zamboni, that was a figure of speech. HOwever, I feel a Zamboni does give the intended targets a fighting chance to flee. But they're pretty quiet, aren't they? RUn down by stealth Zamboni attack? Attack of the Zambonis? Night of the living Zambonis?

Figure of speech or not, for your mind to come up with some scheme, makes me wonder why you wouldn't opt for a steam roller, so you could impact their bodies into the pavement?! Wouldn't that give some sort of ironic justice?

As Ned and Thelma are discussing the sharp rise in the local tomato prices, as they load their groceries into their dodge caravan, they are both run down by a deranged woman at the wheel of a steam roller yelling, "NOW THAT'S AN IMPACT!"


...Yep, I think that's more like it.

Hillbilly, you made me laugh! I suppose I like a Zamboni because it reminds me of spaghetti, tortelinni, spumoni, provalone and all things Italian. Gee, now I'm hungry. I hate when that happens!

Thanks Hillbilly, Uno Its always great to start the day off with a laugh and smile.

M