‘Revert’ as meaning ‘get back to you’ - is this right?

[TraceyDeacy]

I am hearing ‘revert’ quite often as meaning ‘reply’ and am perplexed as to where it has come from.

I have never heard the word used in English before this year. Etymologically, I thought it might mean ‘turns back’.

I was under the impression revert meant 'to go back to' i.e reverting back to a previous methodology (in the context of my job), reverting to a religion, reverting to a decision etc

I’ve never heard it used that way in the U.K. but Google throws a couple of things up.

Why do so many people use “revert” instead of “reply” in emails in India? Revert means to get back to a previous state and has nothing to do with reply. It is a wrong usage and is popular only in India.

Though rare in modern use, some international English speakers do use "revert back" for "reply" in writing and e-mail,

Yeah it means to “go back to” if I got an email that was if you revert to email x I would take it as a pissy I’ve already told you 😂

I've seen it in business speak type messages.

'I will revert to yourself.'

Same type of waffle as 'reach out'.

I've seen this a few times in work emails and I get the impression the writer is trying to use a more fancy version of "reply". It's annoying. Tends to be the same people who like to say "Please revert to myself" instead of "me".

I thought it had crept in from America. It grates.

I’m thinking the writer/sender probably means “refer”?

Revert was around in the 90s when I started working in an office.

It's bloody awful and American business speak that we seem to have imported

Awful term. You can sort of see where it comes from - a bit of a "myself" instead of me thing

Our estate agent used it as shorthand for 'get back to you'. As in, 'I'll check with the vendors and revert'. It was the first time I'd seen it used in that way, so I was a bit taken aback at first.

It's very much a legal word, used it a lot when I worked in estates management with solicitors.

Not US, according to a quick Google, definitely religion and property from Latin originally!

I work with barristers and it's standard terminology from their clerks. Confused me the first time I saw it used!

It's corporate speak employed by people who aren't super well educated but want to sound sophisticated. The same people who use "myself" and "yourself" incorrectly.

I saw it a lot when I worked in the UK. I occasionally see it now from people who speak English as a second language and are imitating people from the UK.

That’s disgusting.

It's legalese. See it a lot at work in law. I will revert by 4pm. It's better than "I will respond by 4pm", because you might not respond substantively, you might revert to seek more time. Revert is a more flexible verb so used for expectation management.

Legal term. Please revert by 4pm.

Sorry, cross post 🙄

Same here - it’s been on the go for ages, it’s certainly not new in this context.

We have an office in India and I have had emails saying revert from there for as long as it has been there. I don't see people here using it though.

Interesting. I use revert in the context of treatment planning but in a kind of 'please provide xxx treatment for the patient and if not feasible then we can revert to the original treatment plan.'

How is it being used?

The Indian people I know have very traditional grammar styles - old colonial (extremely correct but complex) and I often trust their grammar over my own.

I only see it from solicitors at work, usually that they'll revert as soon as possible.

I'd be tempted to say, "Revert to what?"