Two particular annoyances: An impact is what happens when one thing strikes another. It has now been "verbed" and is the new trendy business buzzword for "affect".
"Leverage" is a financial term involving using borrowed money for a purpose. It too has become THE new trendy word as both a noun and, unspeakably, a verb. I edit documents at work and have a rather notorious reputation at editing out both words whenever I see them used inappropriately. Carleton -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 14:56 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52464] Re: Use of the Word "Metric" Re: [USMA:52457] Reuse of Word An interesting point. The venerable Webster's Unabridged Second Edition, which is still used by careful writers, does not list "metric" as a noun. The Third Edition does, so the word gained recognition after 1960. Accurate writers now use "SI Metric" to designate the Modern Metric System. The usage that really bugs me is the run-away usage of "vouns," that is, verbs used as nouns. We are commonly hearing now, except from the most careful broadcasters, "the sequester" instead of "the sequestration." We have long heard in recent decades about doing "an install" instead of "an installation." This confusing peculiarity of English works the other way too. For example, some would "mustard" their hot dog, using the noun as a verb.
