This kind of thread always interests me. Words, expressions and usage that people bridle at have often been around for a very long time.
Contact and reach out did have different meanings; one to get in touch with another person and the other to offer sympathy and support.
However, some people might be surprised to learn that reach out is older than contact. The latter, in the context of getting in touch with another person (rather than two inanimate objects touching), only dates from the 1920s. It was initially used colloquially in the US. English writers did not approve of it.
1935 A.P. Herbert A charming lady in the publicity business shocked me when we parted by saying ‘It has been such fun contacting you.’
By contrast, reach out: of the mind and spirit, to offer sympathy, support, assistance, or understanding.
Earliest example of this context is 377 years old, from Peter Bulkeley from his Gospel Covenant published in London in 1646. Bulkeley was born in Bedfordshire, a graduate and fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. He was an influential early Puritan minister who left England in 1635 for greater religious freedom in the American colony of Massachusetts and was a founder of the famous town of Concord.
It’s another example of language being taken to the New World by English settlers and returning later.
Earlier examples of reaching out tend to relate to the mind and spirit. The first recorded example in the context of physically addressing others dates from 1912, so it still predates the use of contact.
1912 Groups and agencies which are planning to reach out to low-income families with educational efforts in the area of sound family life. Publ. U.S. Children's Bureau
The first recorded non-literary use of contact was in the Manchester Guardian in 1938.
1938 Will you please retain your ticket until you have contacted Mr. ——.
In modern day usage reach out and contact have become synonymous. As MaryDoll says, language evolves.
Grammatically, it is considered completely acceptable to use can and may interchangeably in the context of seeking permission. Their meanings have overlapped since at least the 1800s.
Earliest written use of get: to obtain a simple direct object, dates from the 1300s.
One dictionary definition of mistake is: something chosen through an error of judgement; a badly selected thing, a regrettable choice. This differs from a mistake which is accidental. The evolution of bad as an admission of an error of judgement seems entirely plausible.
Open up in the sense of disclosing, to unburden oneself, has been around since the early 1600s.
