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Pedants' corner

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Original poster

Just want to moan about 'reached out'

25 replies

Pipbin · 01/05/2015 21:56

I'm watching an American drama on Netflix and I'm getting increasingly irritated by the phrase 'reached out', meaning 'contacted'.

That is all.

OP posts:

MirandaGoshawk · 02/05/2015 22:15

YABU. It's American. They are allowed to use American English. Sorry. I wouldn't watch it, personally, as it would drive me nuts.

I watch Montalbano and try to, unsuccessfully brush up on my Italian

SenecaFalls · 03/05/2015 19:17

"Reach out" has a somewhat different connotation than "contact" in the US.

jugglingmonkey · 03/05/2015 19:18

It's killing me... I have a new member of staff in my team who uses it frequently. Not American, she's very British... Grrrrrrrr!!!!

Squeegle · 03/05/2015 19:20

It is an awful phrase which is arriving over here and is being used by my marketing colleagues with ever increasing gay abandon. I hate it. Please let's send reaching it to Coventry.

Original poster

Pipbin · 03/05/2015 19:23

"Reach out" has a somewhat different connotation than "contact" in the US.

Like what? When ever I have heard it used it seems to mean the same thing. Unless you are thinking of reach round, now that is a different thing entirely.

I've heard it in English programs too.

OP posts:

SenecaFalls · 03/05/2015 19:25

It usually has a more emotive, friendlier connotation.

BitOfFun · 03/05/2015 19:27

It does sort of mean contact, I think, but with the added connotation of touchy-feely emotional stuff that the business world likes to adopt to help them get more of our money off us.

SenecaFalls · 03/05/2015 19:32

I'll give you an example that happened to me just his past week. My colleague's mother died suddenly and she had to leave town with a lot of things that needed covering at work. My boss asked me to "contact" someone on the outside to let them know that I would cover a meeting for my colleague and she (my boss) also asked me to "reach out" to my colleague and let her know if I could handle any of the other matters for her.

Original poster

Pipbin · 03/05/2015 19:35

I get it in the manner of looking for some emotional help. 'My friend reached out to me after the death of her mother.'
But I have heard it used like this: "I have reached out to colleagues in the FBI.' 'I'm going to reach out to to some of my hit men.' Not so touchy feely.

OP posts:

SenecaFalls · 03/05/2015 19:39

Well, no, that last example would not be an appropriate use of "reach out." What in the world were you watching, OP?

BitOfFun · 03/05/2015 19:40

That's what they are going for though- tying emotional concepts to business language. Your hitman example just neatly illustrates why it's fundamentally inappropriate.

Original poster

Pipbin · 03/05/2015 19:48

I was watching Dare Devil.

In a couple of series though I have heard it used in every situation where I would say contact, call, email, etc, not just the emotional 'reach out and help' way mentioned above.

OP posts:

BitOfFun · 03/05/2015 19:55

Yes. That's because there is a tendency for Americanised business-speak to try and co-opt the positive connotations of certain terms to make people feel better about being fleeced. Then it becomes just a lazy habit of speech, and before you know it, some scriptwriter starts using it in a historical drama and we've all gone to hell in a handcart.

Original poster

Pipbin · 05/05/2015 21:30

So it was used twice in the episode of Daredevil I just watched. First one was to say that someone's doctor had been contacted, 'I reached out to Doctor Smith'. The second was suggesting that someone contact a crime overlord type.
Nothing touchy-feely about either of them.

OP posts:

Icimoi · 13/05/2015 07:46

Someone I deal with at work constantly uses this term; he keeps telling me he's going to reach out to me to fix up meetings etc, and he also talks about reaching out to someone I know he cordially dislikes. I'm afraid it tends to give me the giggles.

nornironrock · 16/05/2015 08:06

Annoying, yes... But surely nowhere near as bad as the dreaded "touching base". Are we playing baseball, or arranging a quick phone call?

claraschu · 16/05/2015 08:13

I don't like "contact" as a verb either. It sounds very inelegant and American, in the Mumsnet sense of the word, to me. (I am American.)

Original poster

Pipbin · 16/05/2015 08:45

What would you say instead Clara (not goady, just curious)?

OP posts:

KoalaDownUnder · 16/05/2015 08:53

Totally agree, OP.

'Reach out' is overused and totally irritating at this point. Same as 'going forward'. What's wrong with 'in future'?

claraschu · 16/05/2015 09:20

I would use a specific word: email, phone, write, etc, or I would say: "Get in touch with" if I wanted to be vague. I know that I am being fussy and that "contact" is actually a useful verb, but it grates on my ears, and this is Pedant's Corner, so I am allowed to be persnickety.

claraschu · 16/05/2015 09:22

On second thoughts, I don't love: "get in touch with" either, but I might use it if I were not feeling fastidious.

CuttedUpPear · 16/05/2015 09:42

I was sent a customer survey by some company whose name I can't recall at present.

Their opening gambit was to thank me for reaching out to them.

I enjoyed telling them that our business relationship was over due to their use of the term.

SenecaFalls · 16/05/2015 17:19

Are we playing baseball, or arranging a quick phone call?

Are British folk playing cricket when they say "off your own bat?"

Wordsaremything · 27/05/2015 19:44

Bit of fun- you skewered it! Also , in the same vein, I loathe the use of ' shared with' which at first seemed to stand for 'confided in' but now apparently means ' talked to' ( or at) .

Icimoi · 30/05/2015 14:04

Another one that for some reason seems to crop up regularly in meeting minutes: "mentioned". I thought it was a quirk of one particular individual who takes the minutes for a particular type of meeting that I attend, but I've seen it spreading more and more. I don't get it - it takes much more typing than "said", and it's rarely if never accurate.

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