impacting??

Metamorfose · Post by **Metamorfose** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:21 pm

(1) Her book is shot through with impacting but subtle violence.

I concoted this sentence as an example for 'be shot through with' but the point is whether this impacting is proper English, is it ok?

José

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 4:00 am

You will find hundreds of irate letters to the editor, blog entries, web pages and corrections to other's writings insisting that 'impact' as a verb is a monstrosity that heralds the end of civilized discourse.

Which, as usual, indicates that the form is both common and correct

thethinker · Post by **thethinker** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:12 pm

It's great to read about the kind of language features people complained about a few hundred years ago, because most of the time they are now considered perfectly acceptable. A nice one is mentioned in David Crystal's book "The Stories of English". The word "balcony" was originally stressed on the second syllable (as it is in many other languages), and there were furious complaints about the "modern fashion" of stressing the first syllable as we do now. There would be similar complaints now if for some reason it started to change back.

People who try to fight against language change and involved in a painful and losing battle.

dullard · Post by **dullard** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:13 pm

thethinker wrote:People who try to fight against language change and involved in a painful and losing battle.

<soapbox>
You're right of course. However, in an era where English is poised to become the de facto universal second language, I feel the need to make some attempt to control the changes and to try to define what is correct. I would use an analogy of a heavy truck at the summit of a hill. Do we wan't to go downhill with our foot on the accelerator or the brake?
</soapbox>

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:52 pm

Do we wan't to go downhill with our foot on the accelerator or the brake?

As neither or them are wired up, it won't make an iota of difference.

Andrew Patterson · Post by **Andrew Patterson** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:10 am

Official reports of aeronautical disasters never talk about an aeroplane crashing, they always state that it "impacted with the ground".

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:24 am

thethinker wrote:The word "balcony" was originally stressed on the second syllable (as it is in many other languages), and there were furious complaints about the "modern fashion" of stressing the first syllable as we do now.

Did the stress move to the first syllable to help avoid potential confusion with 'baloney'?