[Ads-l] Weird use of "impact" to mean something like "negative situation"

[Dan Goncharoff]

I agree with John. The only thing a little strange is the use of "impact"
in a developing situation, since we may implicitly think of impact as a
single event, but I don't think the dictionaries agree.
DanG


On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 10:03 AM Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:

> I’m not sure why it seems so weird to people.  It’s just a way of saying
> “this developing public health effect.”  I think we all know what the
> developing public health effect is, and it may even have been explicitly
> stated in the longer writing, of which this is an excerpt.  I would
> characterize it as poorly written, but not weirdly so.
>
>
> John Baker
>
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 8:07 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Weird use of "impact" to mean something like "negative
> situation"
>
> External Email - Think Before You Click
>
>
> > non-native collocation error
>
> It sounds weird to me, too, but I don't get that particular
> impression.feeling.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 6:43 PM Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com
> <mailto:smccandlish at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > Sure, I recognize that it's meant to be euphemistic, but "impact" just
> > really doesn't seem to work as a swap-in word. It kind of comes off as a
> > non-native collocation error. I don't recall ever seeing it used in quite
> > this way.
> >
> > --
> > Stanton McCandlish
> > McCandlish Consulting
> > 5400 Foothill Blvd Suite B
> > Oakland CA 94601-5516
> >
> > +1 415 234 3992
> >
> > https://www.linkedin.com/in/SMcCandlish<
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/SMcCandlish>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 12:49 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Crisis? Emergency? Too scary. Nowadays even "situation" is likely to
> > sound
> > > grim.
> > >
> > > I'm surprised they didn't pick the inspiring "challenge."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 1:41 PM Stanton McCandlish <
> > smccandlish at gmail.com<mailto:smccandlish at gmail.com>>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Saw this in a mass e-mail from Starbucks today:
> > > >
> > > > You may be aware that over the last few weeks we have
> > > > taken a series of precautionary steps in response to this
> > > > developing public health impact, including increased
> > > > cleaning and sanitizing procedures for our stores.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Stanton McCandlish
> > > > McCandlish Consulting
> > > > 5400 Foothill Blvd Suite B
> > > > Oakland CA 94601-5516
> > > >
> > > > +1 415 234 3992
> > > >
> > > > https://www.linkedin.com/in/SMcCandlish<
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/SMcCandlish>
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> http://www.americandialect.org>
> > > >
> > >
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> > truth."
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> http://www.americandialect.org>
> > >
> >
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> http://www.americandialect.org>
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>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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