A Grating Verb, Emblematic of our Times

It certainly seems that the constant barrage of media hyperbole has numbed our brains, that subtlety, nuance, and restraint are only faint memories from a distant past, no longer "relevant." However, in such a culturally and literarily bleak environment, I do take comfort in knowing that there are some historically respected wordsmiths out there still trying to sound a note of caution.

As previously mentioned here, the latest edition (2010) of The Chicago Manual of Style has a wonderful section labeled 5.220 Good usage versus common usage. One of my favorite entries there addresses the all-too-common current usage of impact as a verb.

impact. Resist using this word as a verb. Try affect or influence instead. Besides being hyperbolic, impact used as a verb is widely considered a solecism (though it is gaining ground).

The effort to promote good usage also continues in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, which just this month released a new edition. The first thing I checked was their entry for that particular verb, and I saw that my distaste for it continues to be shared (and validated) by their editors and usage panel.

But sometimes it seems as if the battle has already been lost. Near the end of the summer I read online that a former student of mine -- one of the best, actually -- had recently been promoted to high school principal. He told his local newspaper that he welcomed the opportunity to "impact" young people's lives. I guess that just goes to show that once an entire society has become pretentious, no one can be expected to tell the difference any more.