What’s wrong with ‘contacting’?

I realise that language does evolve, but, to me, the current trend for words to be prefaced with ‘like’ can’t possibly be seen as evolving. I’ve just heard this one -

‘ I was, like, sad, that only, like, twenty people turned up , even though it was, like, middle of the afternoon’.

And Ali08 I remember after the Bodach died a lovely wee lady said she was sorry I’d ‘lost my husband’. I was sorely tempted to say that he wasn’t lost, I knew exactly where to find him!

I think getting in touch was more than adequate. I also dislike reaching out

Another American import

One that used to wind me up at work, was the request to ‘cascade’ this (info) down to other staff.
What on earth was wrong with ‘pass it on’ I have no idea.
As I’ve heard this sort of thing described on MN, wank-speak.

Ali08
I find it sad when people criticise the term ‘lost’ when someone is commiserating over a death. Lost doesn’t always mean mislaid. It can also mean to not have anymore. ‘ I’ve lost my mojo’. ‘ they lost their home’.

I agree, speak properly.

Caravansera

I did say that they differed originally but are now considered synonymous.

What did people use for describing contact with another person more than 100 years ago if contact only came into use with its modern day meaning in the 1920s (and then only colloquailly). To write to, to speak to, to meet doesn't give any flavour of the purpose.

Whether change is better or worse is subjective. I love that language is rich and changing constantly.

Here's a quote from Jean Aitchison's book Language Change: Progress or Decay? She is Professor Emerita of Language and Communication in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.

Hatred toward Change

^The puristic attitude towards language - the idea that there is an absolute standard of correctness which should be maintained - has its origin in natural nostalgic tendency, supplemented and intensified by social pressures.^

Very interesting and very apt! I expect people have complained about 'new' language throughout history and it will carry on. Having said that I can't bear 'reach out', 'grab' and 'can I get'!

Along with "cascade" to your team, bat it back to them was my managers favourite.

"How did that land with you?" is one I don't like. Nothing is flying...

Can they not just say, 'What did you think?'

I still can't get used to "impacting". It's had a real impact on my radio listening, I simply turn it off when I hear the word, otherwise I get increasingly irritated every time I hear it.

FoghornLeghorn

I once heard it said that the only people that should reach out are the Four Tops.

I was going to say, I blame Neil Diamond but you’ve topped that!

🤣🤣

I realise that language evolves and changes over time. I know that English is an adaptable language, constantly adding new words and new meanings to older ones. It is spoken in so many other countries whose expressions, usage and spelling (!) varies. I actually am very proud of our language and regard it as one of our greatest achievements. However I do think that some of the modern expressions sound rather silly or insincere. ‘Support’ for understanding or help. ‘Simplistic’ for simple. ‘Lived experience’ for personal experience. And so on. Also the GRAMMAR! As a classicist, I always loved grammar and am sad to see it so mauled these days although I know it is easier that way!

There are fashions in jargon. A phrase I use when appropriate is “It is what is is”. Showing acceptance or maybe closing down the discussion.

Americans on here must feel under assault,there are so many who deride "americanisms" as being wrong or misjudged .Ithink you have to remember America isn't a part of Egland and people from there are entitled to use their language their way. Forcing English on others wasn't acceptable when I was at school or when my GM was in the late 19th century beatings for not using the English word when the Irish one was what was used in her normal life was shocking.
For heavens sake live and let live ,not all of us object to people using words they are comfortable with .Move with the times or be left behind

The evolution of the English Language, in my opinion demeans our language. However, I positively cringe when I read the term "reaching out" in business letters.

Thank you all for "sharing" so much with us!

I once offered to help my American son-in-law "wash-up". He was actually going to "take a shower" not do the dishes. Someone bought me an American/English dictionary after that.

Deedaa

If people aren't "reaching out" they're "opening up". Whatever happened to talking?

or confiding, which I assume is what people mean when they say they opened up about something.

What really annoys me is when people start a sentence with 'Yeah, no'.
Ir is soooo irritating

Another saying which is even worse is when a stranger says to you “see you later” when saying goodbye. No you never going to see me again so goodbye or bye would suffice

I’ll say it again … Starting the answer to a question with “ So” . What’s getting on my nerves lately is the number of people on tv unable to pronounce TH and replacing it with F or V . Consequently, we now get the WEVVER forecaster telling us that it will be raining in the NORF or that SOVERN areas will be cloudy. My step daughter does it. Despite having two degrees she talks about FINGS having been good or FINKING she’s like a pudding. 😱

I agree paddyann. I could cite almost every example given here and show, courtesy of the OED, its long roots in England, some words and expressions in use before Columbus and Vespucci even set foot in the Americas.

I think the Victorians have a lot to answer for in suppressing language in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England. Watch David Olusoga’s new series Union and see how the 1847 Blue Books describe the Welsh language as evil. Legions of children taught by rote to arbitrary Victorian standards of what was right and wrong as well as forced to abandon their native languages.

Just a few examples touching on previous posts.

loss: The being deprived by death, separation, or estrangement, of (a friend, relative, servant, or the like). Often contextually, the death (of a person regretted).

Earliest recorded use 1450 in J Myrc Instructions to Parish Priests. He was canon of Lillishall Abbey in Shropshire.

To pass as an alternative to die was used by Chaucer, Shakespeare and Tennyson.

In Henry VI Part 2, the Earl of Salisbury is with the King at the deathbed of Henry Beaufort, Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester. He says:

Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably.

Tennyson. In Memoriam A.H.H.

LX
He past; a soul of nobler tone:
My spirit loved and loves him yet,

Neither term comes from America. They were already here.

American spelling is to do with the work of 18C lexicographer Noah Webster of Merriam-Webster dictionary fame. He sought to simplify English spelling to make it easier for new settlers to learn e.g. by removing superfluous letters and French spellings. Politically, it marked America’s newly-won independence. It was also a means to stimulate America’s own print industry. Before independence, printed matter was largely imported from Britain.

I dislike the interchangeability of" can "and "may" "Can" is a physical ability but "may "is a legal permission. I have been known to explain that to walkers who want to walk through my garden because there is a footpath nearby.
Where does that horrible word WOKE come from? what does it mean?
The other word I dislike is gotten although I understand it is an old word,-- it sounds too american for my taste.--

tictacnana

I’ll say it again … Starting the answer to a question with “ So” . What’s getting on my nerves lately is the number of people on tv unable to pronounce TH and replacing it with F or V . Consequently, we now get the WEVVER forecaster telling us that it will be raining in the NORF or that SOVERN areas will be cloudy. My step daughter does it. Despite having two degrees she talks about FINGS having been good or FINKING she’s like a pudding. 😱

That is one of my pet hates .tictacnana. along with firty free fousand pounds

Milest0ne

I dislike the interchangeability of" can "and "may" "Can" is a physical ability but "may "is a legal permission. I have been known to explain that to walkers who want to walk through my garden because there is a footpath nearby.
Where does that horrible word WOKE come from? what does it mean?
The other word I dislike is gotten although I understand it is an old word,-- it sounds too american for my taste.--

One of my granny’s sayings when asked, ‘ Can I…..’, was ‘ You can, but you may not’.

Sixty odd years on, I still think of my teacher saying there was never a time to use ‘get’, and I’ve always found another word she would have allowed!

‘Swap out’ instead of just ‘swap’ irritates me. But guess I’m just showing my age!