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jackThis words irks most people I know. Indeed, everyone will know that the title means I'm going to talk about the *word "leverage", instead of thinking I might have leverage on something.
First we had 'lever', a verb and noun. And then 'leverage', refering the the act of levering. And then 'leverage', the verb. When you have leverage, you're magnifying the effect of something, when used literally, your strength becoming more strength (at a cost of distance) to move something.
But it occurs to me, I think the verbs are always used
* To lever something you want to move
* To leverage something you have
Isn't it so? I lever this door open. I leverage my minute-but-real trade advantage.
So the new verb *does* have a niche outside of finance. Of course, *most* of the time it's used when 'use' would be just as well, since there isn't a clear trade off, you just mean "use most effectively", but in theory, it should have a specific meaning not covered by any other word.
First we had 'lever', a verb and noun. And then 'leverage', refering the the act of levering. And then 'leverage', the verb. When you have leverage, you're magnifying the effect of something, when used literally, your strength becoming more strength (at a cost of distance) to move something.
But it occurs to me, I think the verbs are always used
* To lever something you want to move
* To leverage something you have
Isn't it so? I lever this door open. I leverage my minute-but-real trade advantage.
So the new verb *does* have a niche outside of finance. Of course, *most* of the time it's used when 'use' would be just as well, since there isn't a clear trade off, you just mean "use most effectively", but in theory, it should have a specific meaning not covered by any other word.
Re: I like leverage, if only because it annoys so many people :-)
Date: 2006-03-28 07:35 am (UTC):) (I wanted to make it symetrical, not "with whom" or "who with me", to not imply the fault was mine or theirs.)
That's OK - people not liking language change is a feature of most languages throughout history too, AFAICT!
Oh my God, I'm the French! :)