I’m fed up with the word ping.

[MotionActivatedDog]

I’ve seen it so many times on this forum over the last few days the word doesn’t even look right anymore. Even worse- pinged! No one was pinged. You can’t ping a person. Ping is a sound.

There- I’ve used up the entire “ping” quota for the rest of the century. You’ll all have to think of a different word to use now.

It is a word. Has been since the mid 19th Century...
1.
make or cause to make a short, high-pitched ringing sound.
"the doorbell pinged"
2.
COMPUTING
query (another computer on a network) to determine whether there is a connection to it.
send an electronic message to (someone).
"at least a dozen people have pinged me or called to tell me this"

Since we all now have wearable (think smartphones) technology, it’s only natural that people would use it personally. Language does change over time...

It is a word. Has been since the mid 19th Century.

have you misread my post? I haven’t said it isn’t a word.

I agree. Ping is not a verb. I can’t ping, you can’t ping etc etc.

I get annoyed by it too! I actually used it the other day at work, in an overly breezy email and regretted it instantly.

@SpongeBarb

I get annoyed by it too! I actually used it the other day at work, in an overly breezy email and regretted it instantly.

Ping is very much a verb, and has been used in that way for years in the tech world.

🤣

you are being silly & wrong

of course it's a verb.

the end

As an American I feel the same way about the word 'ring'.

But I'm guessing you ring people all the time with no issues?

Nope! Wrong! People don’t ping.

Should we change table tennis to pong pong then?

It's not usually a transitive verb (one that has an object), that's a change. But it seems to work well.

@Shirleyphallus

Should we change table tennis to pong pong then?

Ping pong is permitted.

Although pong pong sounds… interesting?

Oh pong pong is quite cute actually. Maybe an improvement.

Pong pong= smell smell

Meant to say it is a real word, (meaning that it is valid, particularly in the 2nd use shown), sorry.
Point is that it can be used as a shortcut - you wouldn’t be able to convey that you had received a lot of messages to your smartphone in such a succinct way without it...

you wouldn’t be able to convey that you had received a lot of messages to your smartphone in such a succinct way without it.

I honestly don’t think I've ever used ping when talking about phone messages. Probably because my phone has been on silent for years tbh.

Oh god I fucking hate it. Used to have a colleague who would say things like “I pinged you across a few profiles the other day”. What???

Ping is just the noise the alert makes.

People aren’t “pinged” by the app, they are alerted.

@MotionActivatedDog

Nope! Wrong! People don’t ping.

@MotionActivatedDog

🤣
I tell you what. I have no strong emotional attachments to "ping" so it can go in the bin.

but in return I need the word "onion" to be pronounced with an "o" starting sound.
it's so illogical to say "ah-nion" when it's Orange and Orthodontist and Oxygen!!
start it with O dammit.

What would you prefer OP? 😄

ding
tinkle
clink
beep
bleep
peep
ting
jingle
jangle
ting-a-ling
chink
peal
tingle
chinkle
plink
pip
cheep
beep
toot
tootle
meep

@AngeloMysterioso

Oh god I fucking hate it. Used to have a colleague who would say things like “I pinged you across a few profiles the other day”. What???

Ping is just the noise the alert makes.

People aren’t “pinged” by the app, they are alerted.

🙌🙌🙌

Preach!

it's so illogical to say "ah-nion" when it's Orange and Orthodontist and Oxygen!!

Who is saying ah-nion???

@TheSunShinesBrighter

What would you prefer OP? 😄

ding
tinkle
clink
beep
bleep
peep
ting
jingle
jangle
ting-a-ling
chink
peal
tingle
chinkle
plink
pip
cheep
beep
toot
tootle
meep

Horrendous!! The whole lot of them.

“I ting-a-linged you”

“I was tootled by the app”

😂

That’s how ping sounds to me.

The app can ping but I would certainly say it's legitimate to question whether you can be pinged by the app. The app alerts you, yes. The ping is the alert. If society wants to now have a specific word for an alert by an app on a mobile device, then I suppose the OP must learn to live with that

Computers have been pinging each other since the 80s. Just because you don't like it for some reason doesnt mean it's not really a verb.