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Neologism of the Day: Qualifiction

A teaser on the front page of this week's Simmons Voice, the college newspaper, declares "Student questions Palin's qualifictions [sic]." That last word was a typo - obviously the intended word was "qualification" - but when you think about it, "qualifiction" is a dandy word for false or misleading credentials. On resumes, people commonly stretch the truth of their experience by taking more credit for some accomplishment than they probably deserve. But lies presented as truths are, in a sense, fictions. Thus a new word for the week - "qualifiction: the outright misrepresentations of job titles, degrees, or achievements that are presented to bolster one's suitability for a job." Pass it on!

In Defense of Grammar

I recently discovered an interesting and fun blog written by a former student mine. Imagine my surprise to see that a few months ago she featured a comment I made in class:

Last night, in my Leadership, Governance, and Accountability class, the prof said (in reference to papers he had just graded), "...and finally, this is just a pet peeve of mine, but impact is a noun. If something has an impact, then you say that it affects something. However, I've already lost the business battle on incentivize, although we already have a verb for that as well, which is motivate, so I'm probably going to lose this one as well."
I was amused, as I had used the word impact as a verb in my paper--I guess I've learned a lot of business-speak in business school. (Go figure!) As I was telling my husband the story, he started telling me about how, as a geek, he completely tunes out anything that might come after one of those "business speak" words.

Shortly after her post, a reader commented that her professor - moi! - was "a little off" and quoted from what he proported to be supporting evidence from a dictionary. Wow! - to my knowledge that was the first time I've been dinged in blogger-land. In my own defense, I cite The American Heritage Book of English Usage:

The use of impact as a verb meaning “to have an effect” often has a big impact on readers. Eighty-four percent of the Usage Panel disapproves of the construction to impact on, as in the phrase social pathologies, common to the inner city, that impact heavily on such a community. Ninety-five percent disapprove of the use of impact as a transitive verb in the sentence Companies have used disposable techniques that have a potential for impacting our health. It’s unclear why this usage provokes such a strong response, but it can’t be because of novelty. Impact has been used as a verb since 1601, and its figurative use dates from 1935, allowing people plenty of time to get accustomed to it. It may be that its frequent appearance in jargon-riddled remarks of politicians, military officials, and financial analysts has made people suspicious. Nevertheless, the use of impact as a verb has become so common in corporations and institutions that younger speakers have begun to regard it as standard. It seems likely, therefore, that the verb impact will eventually become as usual as the verb contact has become over the last 30 years.

I maintain my original position, and I'm heartened to know that nearly all of the usage experts at American Heritage agree. And as for "incentivize": don't get me started....