If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
What word would it be? I can think of many, but in the last few years the word that annoys me most is ‘impact’. Everything ‘impacts’. In most cases, the word used should be affect, but because the person saying whatever it is they’re saying (this is usually the news) they use impact for everything.
Impact, in meaning, is about ‘force’, not how someone or something is affected.
The floods – how many people were ‘impacted’? No. How many people were affected? Which means, how many people did this have an effect on, or make a difference to? Nothing to do with force.
So, rant over. Next week, I’ll go back to doing a short story. Promise.
Sissy Dunn - Author 
4 responses to “And now I’m Banning Words …”
Thanks for the grammar tip! (I am sure I’ve used “impacted” incorrectly a time or two.)
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As long as you’re not a journalist who uses it for every event on the news.
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Reblogged this on Cage Dunn – Fibber, Fabricator, Teller-of-Tall-Tales and commented:
I’ll second the call to ban this word (out of context)!
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Never been bothered by it. Now I will be. But then again, I don’t much listen to news.
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