Re: [PATCH] doc: replace jargon word "impact" with "effect"/"affect"

Michal Suchánek wrote:

On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 06:49:58PM -0500, Varun Varada wrote:

quoted

On Thu, 13 May 2021 at 04:48, Michal Suchánek [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

Yet Felipe insists that 'impact' is somehow generally bad word to use or
that it should be abolished solely because he finds it bad and nobody
objected to the alternative wording.

Opinions on use of 'impact' differ both among the participants of this
discussion and authorities like authors well-known dictionaries.

It looks like this is generally matter of stylistic preferences and
opinions. That is even if there is some slight stylistic preference for
not using the word 'impact' it is very hard to prove such and then it is
very hard to request change based only on writing style preferences.

The argument is not that it is generally a bad word to use, but that
it is generally bad to use words when they don't mean what one thinks
they mean, especially when all evidence says otherwise.

Not all evidence. There are people who think the use is fine.

What people think is not evidence.

There's people who think the Earth is flat.

quoted

All major dictionaries define "impact" as "a strong effect" or "to
affect strongly". This is not style, but semantics. In the same way

Not all dictionaries, actually.

You don't need all dictionaries.

If 50% of trials show a drug is safe, and 50% show it's not, you don't
approve bit because "not all say say it's unsafe".

If there's evidence that A is bad, you should consider avoiding A,
especially when you have B, and you have *zero* evidence showing B is
bad.

quoted

that "per se" being used to mean "necessarily" is not a style issue,
using "impact" to mean "an effect" or "to affect" is not a style
issue.

As has been stated already, the clear and substantial argument for
this change is that it reduces the confusion that arises from
improperly using the word "impact" in the instances without any loss

There is no final authority on 'correct' word use in English.

You don't need a final authority.

There is evidence that A is problematic.

We should learn to work together with people that use different
variant of the language rather than insist that the variant that I or my
teacher uses is the only correct one and everyone else should use it.

Except one variant is problematic, and the other is not.


Do you have *ANY* evidence that shows a problem with "effect"?

-- 
Felipe Contreras