From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
To: "Michal Suchánek" <msuchanek@suse.de>,
"Felipe Contreras" <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Cc: Varun Varada <varuncvarada@gmail.com>, git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] doc: replace jargon word "impact" with "effect"/"affect"
Date: Tue, 11 May 2021 22:21:44 -0500 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <609b49c85d761_678ff208cd@natae.notmuch> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20210511202502.GM12700@kitsune.suse.cz>
Michal Suchánek wrote:
> On Tue, May 11, 2021 at 02:59:32PM -0500, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> > Varun Varada wrote:
> > > On Tue, 6 Apr 2021 at 04:24, Michal Suchánek <msuchanek@suse.de> wrote:
> > > > while using "will not impact" in an incorrect or unclear way may be a
> > > > problem the word "impact" in itself is not "jargon".
> > >
> > > The word means "to have a strong or marked effect on" (v.) and "a
> > > strong or market influence" (n.) when used figuratively; it is not
> > > synonymous with "affect" and "effect", respectively, as shown even by
> > > all of the entries you've cited. Using it as such is the incorrect
> > > part, so those are the instances I've changed in the diff.
> >
> > There are two ways impact can be used as a verb: transitive and
> > intransitive, but git doesn't seem to be using the intransitive form. In
> > the transitive form it usually means to strike "the car impacted the
> > tree". But it can also mean to have a desired effect "reducing CO2
> > emissions impacted climate change".
>
> I don't know where you find the 'desired' effect meaning. Certainly none
> of the dictionaries I consulted at random provides such definition.
You yourself consulted Merriam-Webster [1]:
impact _verb_
: to have a direct effect or impact on : impinge on
Did you not? [2]
> > None of these are used in the documentation, we have things like:
> >
> > the index does not impact the outcome
> >
> > Which is clearly wrong (unless we are talking about possitive outcome of
> > the outcome, which makes no sense).
>
> It is not clearly wrong. To me it makes perfect sense. If you want to
> claim it's wrong please provide a source for your claim.
Merriam-Webster [1].
> > As a noun it can mean a siginificant or major effect: "the impact of
> > science".
> >
> > However, the documentation is not using it that way:
> >
> > the runtime impact of tracking all omitted objects
> >
> > The noun usage is less wrong than the verb usage, but it's still wrong.
>
> Why is that wrong?
Because it's not a "a significant or major effect" [1].
> How did you infer that the effect is insignificant or minor?
I did not.
If I claim temperature $x is not hot, that doesn't mean I'm claiming
it's cold.
> In fact while some dictionaries list 'impact' as 'have strong effect'
> the Oxford dicrionary lists is as simply synonymous to 'affect'.
Synonymous doesn't mean equal. In fact, the Oxford dictionary defines
"impact" as [3]:
the powerful effect that something has on somebody/something
Note: *powerful*.
> > But why bother? The word "affect" is a much superior choice.
>
> Why bother with a chenge at all?
Because it's better.
Do you have any evidence that it's worse?
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impact
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/git/20210406092440.GZ6564@kitsune.suse.cz/
[3] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/impact_1
--
Felipe Contreras
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-05-12 3:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 68+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-04-05 21:48 [PATCH] doc: replace jargon word "impact" with "effect"/"affect" Varun Varada
2021-04-06 9:24 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-04-06 19:36 ` Varun Varada
2021-04-06 23:01 ` Jeff King
2021-04-07 0:06 ` Varun Varada
2021-04-28 0:39 ` Varun Varada
2021-04-28 8:58 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-04-28 18:15 ` Varun Varada
2021-04-28 18:49 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-04-30 1:51 ` Varun Varada
2021-04-30 7:59 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-10 17:19 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-10 17:35 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-10 18:37 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-11 10:43 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-11 13:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-05-12 3:02 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 2:59 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 2:48 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 2:38 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 2:34 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 2:24 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-11 19:59 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-11 20:25 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-11 21:38 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-12 3:43 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 4:09 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 5:13 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 6:47 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 9:06 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 10:08 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 10:33 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 11:05 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 11:20 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 11:45 ` Robert P. J. Day
2021-05-12 15:19 ` Kerry, Richard
2021-05-12 16:47 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-12 17:01 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 17:32 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 18:04 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 19:42 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-13 7:46 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-13 8:28 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-13 8:55 ` Robert Coup
2021-05-13 9:48 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-13 9:59 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-26 23:49 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-27 11:46 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-27 14:08 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-27 14:35 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-27 16:43 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-12 23:13 ` Varun Varada
2021-06-13 11:40 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-06-13 14:06 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-13 16:28 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-06-13 17:12 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 22:52 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-13 6:19 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 3:21 ` Felipe Contreras [this message]
2021-05-11 19:21 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-11 19:57 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 3:09 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 4:11 ` Michal Suchánek
2021-05-12 5:22 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-05-12 16:39 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-13 10:40 ` Philip Oakley
2021-05-26 23:52 ` Varun Varada
2021-05-27 11:20 ` Philip Oakley
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