And, like I said, I don't actually know anyone else who gets annoyed by "reach out" in place of "contact," so in this, I am well aware that I am a crackpot with very particular preferences.
sidles over to Teppy
I'm with you on this. Probably because the only people I've dealt with who have used "reach out" instead of "contact" are also the type who spout whatever management-flavor-of-the-month jargon is trendy. Like "Thanks for leaning in", which is a phrase that will send me into eye-rolling rage.
Really? I would think "thanks for reaching out" predates the use in the business context.
But I'm a fan of reach out. Contacted to me implies there has been some sort of interaction, while reached out could mean sent an email or vm but have not necessarily interacted yet.
Wait! I'm right about reach out. Proof [link]
Really? I would think "thanks for reaching out" predates the use in the business context.
Then it's been horribly abused in the corporate world, especially in tech.
I'm all for making up words! I'm all for casual language! But because I'm a tech writer/editor, people giving me information that is full of made-up marketing speak and buzzword fluff is a huge, HUGE hot button for me. During the second week of this job, I informed my manager that there was no way I was using the term "searchandizing" in the technical doc set. His reply was something like
"OH THANK G-D, you have a spine".
I actually meant to say I was pretty descriptivist earlier.
But not so descriptivist to be able to use prescriptivist to mean descriptivist and expect people to understand me. Just mistyped what my brain thought.
"Reach out, reach out and touch someone..." I don't remember what that's from. Phone company ad?
Searchandizing? I cannot decipher that.
Ha! The Four Tops use of "reach out" is exactly my problem with it being used by every corporate PR person: it strikes me as implying a level of emotion and even intimacy (or potential thereof) that "contact" doesn't. (Otherwise the song would be "Contact me; I'll be there.") (And now I'm thinking about Blondie's "Call Me.")
I am going to draw the "threads" together and say one of my peeves is when people use midrift instead of midriff. No bare midrifts!
"whoa" is spelled "woah"
I really think of those as two different words!
Me too! "woah" is what Keanu says.
"Reach out, reach out and touch someone..." I don't remember what that's from. Phone company ad?
See, that use, too, implies emotion/intimacy. I just don't think that's the correct connotation when the PR department of Widgets Inc. talks about trying to get ahold of someone on the phone.
"Leaning in" is usually said by female managers who are trying to encourage their female employees to sacrifice a notion of work/life balance and personal time. Because the workplace would be perfect if all the women took on more work and proved they were goal-oriented go-getters. My horrible ex-boss/Dolores Umbridge clone
loved
the idea of "leaning in". For her employees, not for her.
