She Who Will Be Obeyed!: words in business

November 15, 2003

words in business

Why is it suddenly correct to ask someone, "What are you wanting?" What is wrong with, "What do you want?"?

Every bit of documentation I read anymore has a verb with an 'ing' following it. When I look at a problem ticket, the analyst writes - "she is wanting to fix her Excel Spreadsheet."

Does anyone else notice this? Does it drive anyone else crazy?

I'm all for short and sweet.

Yesterday, I got an email from a co-worker that said, "You can dialog with Joanie Smith". What is this bullshit? The note went on to say, "I have dialogued with her and found her to be reasonable."

It's enough to make me want to scream.

Posted by Beth at November 15, 2003 4:15 PM

Comments

"What are you wanting?" sounds like the English constructions used by some of my colleagues from the Indian subcontinent. I wonder if that is where that trend started.

I absolutely hate the usage of "dialog" as a verb. It doesn't make me want to scream, but it does make me crazy.

Posted by: Jack at November 15, 2003 5:23 PM

Note that the plural of dialog is disomelogs. Be sure to use this in responding to a memo.

Posted by: triticale at November 17, 2003 9:30 PM