I love reading other people’s emails. Don’t judge me, it’s my job.
You see, getting an authentic idea of the language people use is often much more useful that marking a carefully planned essay or looking at answers to a workbook exercise. By looking at emails, I can see the language you are genuinely using, and misusing. I can give you tips and guidance that is relevant and useful.
It was whilst reading an example email from a student that I first saw the following use of the word ‘revert’.
Please revert to this email by Friday at the latest.
That’s strange, I thought. It kind of makes sense, but it's definitely not right. I checked with the student, who told me they’d seen it used in this context several times. They then checked their inbox and found no less than 50 emails using revert instead of reply, respond or get back to me.
Now I was excited because mass-misuse of a word in this way is how language evolves. Words are not fixed, they are flexible, charged, and their meaning changes depending on how they are being used. Was this language evolving before my eyes? Was revert becoming respond?
Further research revealed that it is particularly prevalent in the Indian subcontinent, where it has become an accepted alternative to reply or respond. It’s even acknowledged in the Google dictionary.
The cases I’ve seen in Finland have often been in the legal area, perhaps this is because the ‘true’ meaning is often used in a legal context, e.g., Ownership shall revert to the previous occupant.
It also seems to be used more often in formal emails, perhaps as an attempt to sound more professional.
Well, here’s the bad news, we’re not ready to run with this one yet. It seems many (most) native speakers still see the use of revert as a mistake / bad English.
I checked with a friend in the UK. Had he seen it? “Oh, yeah. You see it at least once a week. That one’s really annoying.”
It's really annoying.
And there’s the problem. Even if other people are using it, even if we all understand what it means, if using it annoys half of the people that see it, it’s best to avoid it. Sorry.
So what does revert really mean?
1. Return to a former condition, belief or practice.
e.g., With electricity no longer available, villagers reverted to a more traditional way of life.
2. [legal] Return to a previous owner.
e.g., All rights revert to the author after publishing.
And unless you’re living in (or near) India, it should not be used as a replacement for reply, respond or get back to.
Not yet.
Have a great week.
Комментарии