"impactful"

Amorphus

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
5,561
1
0
I was writing (in pen), and I wanted to say that a particular line in a play had a profound impact. However, I had already written "blahblahblah line is particularly", and I didn't want to cross it out. So I tried to think of a suitable adjective, but I couldn't think of anything except "impactful". My first thought was that this was a non-word, so I looked it up in various places. Nope. So I just put it straight into Google, and lo and behold, apparently it's held by plenty of people as a real word.

Google link


If you know of an adjective that works in place of "impactful", please do post it. I've been having lots of brain farts lately.

While on that topic, if you know of a plant whose one part is commonly used in cooking, whereas another part (I believe the leaves) is very much poisonous, please note that also. :)
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
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It's a perfectly cromulent word, used often by bureaucrats, politicians, middle managers and other nonhuman sapients.
 

amcdonald

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2003
4,012
0
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Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
It's a perfectly cromulent word, used often by bureaucrats, politicians, middle managers and other nonhuman sapients.
I find it embiggens even the blandest phrases.
 

MarklarMarklar

Senior member
Oct 12, 2002
262
0
76
A former English teacher attempted to own Coca Cola for using that word in an email response. Here is the thread. with a link to the email exchange. Here it is listed in a dictionary.
Impactful should be fine unless your English teacher is the guy from that thread.
 

theNEOone

Diamond Member
Apr 22, 2001
5,745
4
81
Originally posted by: MarklarMarklar
A former English teacher attempted to own Coca Cola for using that word in an email response. Here is the thread. with a link to the email exchange. Here it is listed in a dictionary.
Impactful should be fine unless your English teacher is the guy from that thread.
haha, i remember that and was about to post my old screenshot. beat me to it. :p


=|
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Here's a bunch of "words" used commonly by those who don't know that they aren't words.

* Phraseology, the science of phrases.
* Alot, a lot.
* Rightness, the degree of how right one is.
* Randomality, the state of randomness.
* Bazillion (or gazillion), a number so big that it is bigger than a zillion (also not a real word/number)
* Humungus, collosal.
* Embiggens, improves (from the Simpsons)
* Cromulant, valid (also from the Simpsons - a teacher said that "embiggens" is a perfectly cromulant word).
* Gooder, better.
* Bestest, not good, not better/gooder, not best. Not bester, but bestest. The highest degree of goodness.
* Fluidic, like a fluid.
* Watery, water-like.
* Varage, a large number of something.
* Yowsers, an exclamation of surprise.
* Oopsies, said when an action prompts an unexpected and often disastrous result.
* Doe, said when an action prompts an unexpected and often disastrous result.
* Jeeze, abbreviation of Jesus, said when annoyed or surprised.
* Kinda, similar to.
* Sorta, similar to.
* Infuckingcredible, a swear stuck inside an exclaimation, something that is really incredible.
* Absofuckinglutely, a swear stuck inside an affirmative, something that really shines true or is really absolute.
* Ohmygosh (or Ohmigod), exclamation of "oh, my gosh!"
* Frnd, friend is a four-letter word (thanks to the music band Cake). http://khopesh.iwarp.com/fun/dict2.html


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cromulent

embiggen: Presumed to mean something like To make bigger.
Seen on _The Simpsons_, episode 3F13 Lisa the Iconoclast, originally aired on 19960218..

(It's a prefectly cromulent word).

Example: A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. - Jebidiah Springfield
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
What's amusing is that in a few decades "cromulent" and "embiggen" might actually become valid words, if enough of us Simpsons fans continue to pretend that they are :D
 

Amorphus

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
5,561
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0roo0roo, I don't think interjections can be said to be non-words, as that entire class is just "whatever noise you make that's not actually a word that comes between real words as an expression of shockinglikeness" (or something like that).

humongous is a word. watery seems to be valid, also.

kinda and sorta are just quickly spoken "kind of" or "sort of" transcribed in the manner in which they were spoken. the base form is still valid.

and wtf is a "varage"? do you mean "barage" (or: "barrage"), which is a perfectly valid word?
 

TallBill

Lifer
Apr 29, 2001
46,017
62
91
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Here's a bunch of "words" used commonly by those who don't know that they aren't words.

* Phraseology, the science of phrases.
* Alot, a lot.
* Rightness, the degree of how right one is.
* Randomality, the state of randomness.
* Bazillion (or gazillion), a number so big that it is bigger than a zillion (also not a real word/number)
* Humungus, collosal.
* Embiggens, improves (from the Simpsons)
* Cromulant, valid (also from the Simpsons - a teacher said that "embiggens" is a perfectly cromulant word).
* Gooder, better.
* Bestest, not good, not better/gooder, not best. Not bester, but bestest. The highest degree of goodness.
* Fluidic, like a fluid.
* Watery, water-like.
* Varage, a large number of something.
* Yowsers, an exclamation of surprise.
* Oopsies, said when an action prompts an unexpected and often disastrous result.
* Doe, said when an action prompts an unexpected and often disastrous result.
* Jeeze, abbreviation of Jesus, said when annoyed or surprised.
* Kinda, similar to.
* Sorta, similar to.
* Infuckingcredible, a swear stuck inside an exclaimation, something that is really incredible.
* Absofuckinglutely, a swear stuck inside an affirmative, something that really shines true or is really absolute.
* Ohmygosh (or Ohmigod), exclamation of "oh, my gosh!"
* Frnd, friend is a four-letter word (thanks to the music band Cake). http://khopesh.iwarp.com/fun/dict2.html


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cromulent

embiggen: Presumed to mean something like To make bigger.
Seen on _The Simpsons_, episode 3F13 Lisa the Iconoclast, originally aired on 19960218..

(It's a prefectly cromulent word).

Example: A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. - Jebidiah Springfield

These arren't used as word, they are typed internet slang. The list would be infinite.
 

Jzero

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
18,834
1
0
It's a children's book, but you guys should really read the one called "Frindle" which gets at the fundamental concept that the dictionary does not define the language, it merely catalogs the lanugage at a particular time. A kid decides to convince his classmates to start using "frindle" as a synonym for "pen" and many years later, it becomes common enough to start appearing in dictionaries.

If enough people start using embiggen, it may really show up in a dictionary one day.

THat list is weak. In addition to the ones Amorphus mentions, rightness, phraseology and fluidic are at least in some dictionaries...