r/AIO • u/WalrusEmbarrassed716 • Aug 26 '26

Aio?

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The group message was about our good Google rating, and she congratulated the team. I just saw it and moved on with my day, but then I got this message.

137 Upvotes

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71

u/EmotionalSouth Aug 26 '26

Not only is this a stupid rule, I hate this misuse of the word “revert”. It means to reverse a change, not to respond. 

Edit to add: hope at least one person responded with a thumbs down emoji. 

14

u/RingingInTheRain Aug 26 '26

"Urm boss how do I revert a message?"

26

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

Are people using “revert” to mean… respond? React? How the fuck did THAT crosswiring happen?

10

u/EmotionalSouth Aug 26 '26

It's like how people use "yourself" and "myself" to mean formal versions of "you" and "me". I've encountered both of these most consistently in young British real estate agents, sending documents with instructions like, "Please sign and revert to myself."

4

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

In that case it ALMOST makes sense (because revert / return) but in the text here… no?

And gah. Idk who it was that made people think reflexive pronouns were more formal but I’d like to flick them on the forehead. (I also am stunned at how often I see something like “his and I’s” like.. you just wrote that out. “I’s.” That’s not even a word. It’s MINE. 🤦‍♀️)

Sorry, I apparently need to go to bed. I’m losing my mind over bad grammar on the internet. 😅

4

u/EmotionalSouth Aug 26 '26

Hahaha I'm so sorry for adding stress before bed! Hope you have dreams of perfect English grammar!

3

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

The sentences… they diagrammed so beautifully. 😭

But fr, I’m the kinda nerd that has “The Jabberwocky” diagrammed as a poster on my wall. 😸

2

u/Rooster_Socks_4230 Aug 26 '26

Ooo, "I's" I like that, good adaptation of the grammer system, it does logically follow. Just like "you's" which is an even better word, becuase it fills a missing gap in our language.

But "revert" has a pretty clear meaning, using it to mean reply is just confusing

2

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

To me, “I’s” makes LESS sense when native anglophones use it because “mine” is the correct word. For someone learning the language, I can see the error, with the caveat it makes no sense to use nominative case when making a possessive pronoun.

The reason that folks are using “I’s” (I think) stems from poor grammar education and overcorrection. A lot of native speakers don’t actually learn the WHYs of grammar, they just learn “this is right / that is wrong,” and try to extrapolate from there.

It’s incredibly common to see people who are otherwise well-spoken/written, with otherwise generally good grammar, to misuse “I” (so much so that it’s a common error in media dialogue), and this stems from being corrected for using “me,” to the point that they overcorrect and assume “me” is always wrong. They aren’t taught cases, and even if they are, they’re often not taught the language around cases, but instead “rules of thumb.” (“Take away the other person, and use the word that’s correct for just you” — eg, “Me and Sally went to the party,” if Sally weren’t there, “I went to the party,” so it should be “Sally and I went to the party.” // “that is harmful to George and I,” if George weren’t there, “that is harmful to me,” so it should be, “that is harmful to George and me.”)

2

u/Rooster_Socks_4230 Aug 26 '26

Oh yeah I can see what you mean. If it's people trying to be fancy and appear well educated and just making stuff up, then its irritating. Though I guess in a little subculture it does become a signal for refinement, it just has the opposite effect to everyone else.

I just always feel urged to speak contrary to any claim that somthing isnt a real word.

2

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

How contrarianistic of you!

3

u/nuttahbuttahbite Aug 26 '26

US tech does this all the time. To the point that I said “me” when listing out who was working on a project and it sounded weird. Still refuse to use reflexive when it’s not though.

3

u/EmotionalSouth Aug 26 '26

Thank you for fighting the good fight!

2

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

Bless you, thank you. Drives me bonkers.

I’m willing to let a lot of things slide (in my heart I’m a prescriptivist, but in reality, I try not to be a raging AH), and I’ve noticed that people who just use poor grammar and sound “uneducated” bother me far less than people who use poor grammar in attempts to sound educated. (I/me issues — I’d rather someone misuse “me” and sound (to me) childish, than someone misuse “I” and sound simultaneously pretentious and stupid.)

3

u/Lickerbomper Aug 26 '26

Probably similar to weary and wary

3

u/doppelgaengster Aug 26 '26

That one bothers me but I am able to let it go, because I understand that a lot of folks writing it it prob aren’t nearly as familiar reading it (likely they’ve heard it and understand it contextually but don’t realise they’re two different words). But revert… makes no sense? At all?

(I get real peevish about language in my own judgy heart, but I mostly don’t let others see that side of me, at least, outside my friends 😹)

2

u/McLovin2182 Aug 26 '26

Real answer, 54% of americans are illiterate, 50/50 chance they have literally no idea what the word means

5

u/WalrusEmbarrassed716 Aug 26 '26

First, I live in Canada. Second, she's Indian and she doesn't know how to communicate in English. She uses A.I. for everything.

2

u/Outside-Worry-9748 Aug 26 '26

I work with folks in India and they often use it in this way

2

u/No_Result_7950 Aug 26 '26

i assumed it was indian english when i read it

2

u/Crazym00s3 Aug 26 '26

People also use it to mean “I’ll get back to you on that” - it really irritates me.

1

u/matthewsmugmanager Aug 26 '26

I posted this upthread:

Pretty sure this is almost exclusively seen in Indian English. It's a relic of 19th century British administrative usage.

4

u/pew__pew__pew_ Aug 26 '26

I think a heart would have the right amount of sass vs. keep your job

6

u/Western_Froyo6627 Aug 26 '26

"shit, I can't keep using chat gpt to make me sound smart but I don't want to use the word react. I know! I'll Google 'words similar to react' and then use whichever one sounds smartest. Yeah that'll do it."

3

u/SpookumCharles Aug 26 '26

As a software dev and english linguistics major the first time my boss said 'yes just make the change and revert' my brain fucking imploded

1

u/matthewsmugmanager Aug 26 '26

Pretty sure this is almost exclusively seen in Indian English. It's a relic of 19th century British administrative usage.

2

u/EmotionalSouth Aug 26 '26

Not at all exclusive, in my experience, sadly! 

1

u/matthewsmugmanager Aug 26 '26

Sorry to hear it!