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@xxxxxxx> 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ [3] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/impact_1 -- Felipe Contreras
