Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[french frank]

Does "reached out to" not go a little further and suggest contact with the hope of a positive response?

"Reaching out to you, Signed, Yours, in hope."

(Not sure that the original example included the government. It was all I could think of on the spur of the moment))

[Pabmusic]

I wonder why the Americans stuck to "sergeant" as in "are", while keeping to the older pronunciation for clerk, Berkeley etc. No doubt Webster had a role to play.

The older, now anomalous spelling, is more likely to be retained in place names, I suppose, as in Derby. For some reason "clerk" kept the old spelling, whereas most of the time otherwise the spelling changed to the new pronunciation eg, derk>dark, fer>far. With reference to the latter it is interesting to note the unshifted vowels which are still there in cognate forms in other Germanic languages:

eg German: fern/far, Stern/star, Herz/heart, sterben/starve, merken/mark etc

As a general rule words that were well established by 1400 did not change. Thus place names tended to preserve both spelling and pronunciation - though there are exceptions, as anyone from (say) Berkhamstead will attest. An interesting case is Merchant, where the surname has usually become Marchant (new spelling, old pronunciation) and the trade kept the old spelling but the new pronunciation.

I don't know much about German, but I believe that modern German derives mainly from High German (the language of the Alpine areas). One thing that happened in High German was the tendency to pronounce T in a lisping fashion, thus changing the Dutch, Frisian, English Low German "voet/foot" to "fuss", "water" to "wasser", and "eten/eat" to "essen". That's part of the Great Vowel Shift too, even though it concerns consonants.

[Pabmusic]

Interesting. Coronel is the Spanish and Portuguese word. ...

It certainly entered English at the time of the Civil War and Dutch Wars, so there's an obvious Spanish connexion with the Netherlands.

[kernelbogey]

Does "reached out to" not go a little further and suggest contact with the hope of a positive response?

My daughter brought this expression back from a few years working and living in the US, and still uses it. I have interpreted it somewhat as above, but perhaps also 'with goodwill', or even 'with positive intent' - 'Sandra's been having a hard time, so I reached out to her'.

[kernelbogey]

Panini. E.g. on a menu: panini with ham and cheese. So do you get two?

[french frank]

'Sandra's been having a hard time, so I reached out to her'.

That's precisely the meaning I understood it to have. But finally found someone else (in the D Telegraph ) back in 2015 who has spotted the same trend as me:

'This week a real estate agent came to my doorstep and said “Hi, I’m reaching out to you today to see if you’d be interested in a free appraisal of your home.” Because in the seemingly never ending litany of stupid business phrases with little or no actual meaning, now comes what I believe could be the most irritating of all — “reaching out’’.'

[oddoneout]

That's precisely the meaning I understood it to have. But finally found someone else (in the D Telegraph ) back in 2015 who has spotted the same trend as me:

'This week a real estate agent came to my doorstep and said “Hi, I’m reaching out to you today to see if you’d be interested in a free appraisal of your home.” Because in the seemingly never ending litany of stupid business phrases with little or no actual meaning, now comes what I believe could be the most irritating of all — “reaching out’’.'

I suppose now one could say "Well don't. Keep your distance."

[gurnemanz]

That's precisely the meaning I understood it to have. But finally found someone else (in the D Telegraph ) back in 2015 who has spotted the same trend as me:

'This week a real estate agent came to my doorstep and said “Hi, I’m reaching out to you today to see if you’d be interested in a free appraisal of your home.” Because in the seemingly never ending litany of stupid business phrases with little or no actual meaning, now comes what I believe could be the most irritating of all — “reaching out’’.'

The noun "outreach", not part of my active vocabulary, has also become an annoyingly pervasive buzzword.

[Serial_Apologist]

I suppose now one could say "Well don't. Keep your distance."

Or "Only if your arms are the required 1 metre long".

[teamsaint]

I checked this out, and it turned out that " Reach Out" is very popular . In fact it is one of the Four Top phrases of the year.

Anyway, since we are on the subject, I find it is quite a useful phrase in business emails. Not my favourite ever expression, but sometimes more appropriate than " contact".

[Stanfordian]

I checked this out, and it turned out that " Reach Out" is very popular . In fact it is one of the Four Top phrases of the year.

Anyway, since we are on the subject, I find it is quite a useful phrase in business emails. Not my favourite ever expression, but sometimes more appropriate than " contact".

Holland–Dozier–Holland to you too!

[french frank]

This seems the appropriate thread to point out that it should be:

who has spotted the same trend as I [...have spotted]

I think that that might be the pedants' thread. If I had included the verb, I would have used I, but since I didn't (include the verb), I didn't (use I).

"as me or as I: when no verb follows it [as] can be interpreted either as a preposition or as a conjunction. … In conversation and informal writing the second pattern is standard…"

[cloughie]

Holland–Dozier–Holland to you too!

Bacharach and David liked it too.

https://youtu.be/c3tIlHOQemU

[LMcD]

Bacharach and David liked it too.

https://youtu.be/c3tIlHOQemU

As did the Four Tops: Reach Out (Reach Out For Me) in 1967.

[french frank]

I checked this out, and it turned out that " Reach Out" is very popular . In fact it is one of the Four Top phrases of the year..

My mother bought that record when she was about 60.