Contrary to popular Nigerian opinion, ‘revert’ doesn’t mean ‘reply’, it means to ‘go back to a previous state’. So every time you tell a customer you’ll revert (on an issue), what you’re really saying is that you’re not going to change anything. How very helpful of you.
Revert is such an annoying word because RIGHT THERE IN THE EMAIL APPLICATION IT SAYS “REPLY”. IT’S RIGHT THERE WHAT THE WORD IS SUPPOSED TO BE. CAMMAN GUYS!
I didn’t want to be the first person to “scold” a Nigerian on the misapplication of the word “Revert.” The first time I received an email with that word was from an HR manager of an Oil & Gas servicing company. She’s, of course, such an authoritative figure so I subconsciously added “revert” as a synonym of reply to my mental thesaurus.
But I’m fortunate because I always double-check facts anytime I develop the slightest doubt. So, on a fateful day, I was composing an email for a client and had replaced reply with the new fancy word “revert” but wasn’t comfortable. My basic English Language instinct told me that reply and revert didn’t match. So I googled “revert” and there it was! Point Blank!
I’m guilty because I kept silence and refused to correct those who misuse the word “revert.” What I’m going away with today is that I have to help disabuse the minds of the victims.
PS: I had googled “disabuse” to verify it’s proper usage before submitting.
This is crazy… I hated having to leave whatever it is i was reading or doing to google a word i happen to be confused about that i was forced to quickly write an extension for my browsers… Thankfully… the same extension works for both chrome and Opera… So i can actually confirm word meanings and synonyms before i make the next big grammatical blunder… For some weird reason i havent been able to upload the extension to the chrome store but it is live on the Opera extension store [works for chrome too] for anyone interested… https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/instaword/
Whao @AceKYD. This is quit innovative and impressive. Does it work for words selected inside text input areas? I seem to have more need to dictionaries when I’m typing than reading. I’ll try it out now. Well done.
@Ndianabasi Yeah… it works for words selected inside text input areas except your address bar… However… i’ll be pushing an update now that would allow you paste the word you need into a textbox in order to specifically search regardless of your selection.
