"They will be very impacting"

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Killjoy, Mar 27, 2010.

  1. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    So I'm channel surfing for a bit between periods of the hockey game earlier tonight, (Sabres lost to fukkin' Ottawa again, #@$%&*!!! the $@#@&*%!!!) and lo and behold I stumble across an interview with "Sarahcuda" Palin in which she is commenting on the potential effect the ranks of the Tea Party could have on the coming election.

    She used the phrase "They will be very impacting".

    Can this possibly be grammatically correct ?

    I myself would have said something along the lines of - They will have a significant impact.

    Maybe I'm just an old so-and-so...

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  3. Pinwheel Banned Banned

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    I forsee significant Impactation.
     
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  5. John99 Banned Banned

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    sure. The word can stand alone but hardly ever used that way.
     
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  7. clusteringflux Version 1. OH! Valued Senior Member

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    Oh yeah, tea parties are all about impactive compassionatism. Or was that compacted conservatude?

    Either way this woman seems dumber than a bag of hammers, especially now that I hear she's working for McCain again.
     
  8. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    I don't necessarily agree with the 'substance' of her statement.

    Hell, she could have been talking about the net effect of a truckload of bricks dumped over the edge of a cliff onto a row of parked cars.

    The way it was phrased seemed an example of a recent "dumbing down" of the way concepts are expressed... ...someting similar to - We're partnering with [insert hypothetical company name] to bring you [insert hypthetical service and/or product], rather than We've formed a partnership with...&tc...

    Perhaps both are actually correct usage, and simply an uncommon coinage. To me it just sounds clumsy and improper.
     
  9. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    As impacting as they are likeling to being, I be fearing little gooding will coming of it.

    {impacting, the sense of the word, is intruding with pressure, wedging or squeezing in, forcing entry - the most common use has been in dentistry: molars sometimes impact, and we suffer an impacted wisdom tooth. The intensifier "very" doesn't fit well - compare "very digging" or "very squeezing in" or "very intruding"}
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2010
  10. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    It's ironic that it's generally Republicans who complain about immigration, and one of their biggest complaints is that many of them don't speak English well. Yet their party gave us a President who can't speak English fluently. Then they followed that up with a candidate for Vice President who sounds like a foreigner who's thinking in Greek or Swahili or Cambodian and translating her sentences into English one word at a time without normalizing the grammar.

    "Very impacting." Hmmm. Well, technically it is possible to use "very" with a gerund--if the gerund fills the role of an adjective in the sentence.
    • Your plan for our weekend--a football game, a fishing trip and a beer bash--is not very appealing.
    • I don't think I want to buy a house in this neighborhood; the condition of the lawns is very alarming.
    • I couldn't get our son to tell me why he needs $750 for a school project; he was not very forthcoming.
    So, in this example, is the gerund "impacting" serving as an adjective? I don't think so. It's a verb. "To impact" means "to have an effect." So "impacting" means "having an effect." I can't find any way to interpret that as an adjective. We have the word "effective," but it doesn't mean "having an effect;" it means adequate, functional or vivid.

    So in my professional opinion, Ms. Palin is, once again, speaking "Mock English." [That construction was coined to describe the language of the Swedish Chef on the Muppet Show: "Mock Swedish."]
    That's because you, sir, can speak English fluently. Perhaps you should run for public office.

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  11. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    It was very mavericky of her to say that.
     
  12. Doreen Valued Senior Member

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    However one could say that someone's wisdom teeth were very impacted.
     
  13. stateofmind seeker of lies Valued Senior Member

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    New words are made all the time without thought
    Some of them stick and others do not
    Don't try to stop it, just throw in the towel
    Cause if we get what they mean - no harm, no foul

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  14. Doreen Valued Senior Member

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    I ferlamginate entirely!
     
  15. stateofmind seeker of lies Valued Senior Member

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    Lol I tried to look that up haha!!
     
  16. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    Heh.

    Think this would make a good campaign theme ?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFVrBzuyhFA


    True, but is the process by which they get to that state impacting ?


    Oh, now you're just quoting Squidbillies.
     
  17. Doreen Valued Senior Member

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    I wouldn't refer to it as a state but as an action. So one could say soon my wisdom teeth will be impacting my life negatively.
     
  18. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    "It's a perfectly cromulent word."
     
  19. John99 Banned Banned

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    Sure you can use it that way.

    Here is another example:

    Are the birds chirping?

    They are very chirping.
     
  20. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    What I mean is - silly as it may sound - one might say that their impacted wisdom teeth are impacting their life, but the biological process which occurs wouldn't be referred to using the expression - Your tooth is impacting.
     
  21. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    Huh ?

    Seems like the word "very" is superfluous in that case - or at least used improperly.

    Perhaps "They are indeed chirping".
     
  22. Doreen Valued Senior Member

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    But we are not usually so vague, but sure you could.

    It's a bit like saying

    You are going to get a question, so you might as well answer it in the first sentence.
     
  23. John99 Banned Banned

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    I was using the same word she used. She used 'very' so i had to put it in there.

    Look at it this way:

    Are the birds chirping?

    The birds are chirping.

    Just omitting the word 'very' and it sounds fine, i think adding the word very wouldn't impact anything.

    Similar to 'very exciting'.
     

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