Date:    Fri, 10 Apr 1998 11:13:56 +0000
<br>From:    Jim Rader <jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: impactful
<br>
<br>There is an entry for _impactful_ in W3; our first cite for the word
<br>is from Martha Wolfenstein and Nathan Leites, _Movies: A
<br>Psychological Study_ (The Free Press, 1950), p. 22:
<br>
<br>We might suppose that some of the most impactful heroines of current
<br>films would combine these two functions:  that of the good-bad girl
<br>who appears attractive through her seeming relations with other men,
<br>and that of the girl who takes the initiative towards men,
<br>demonstrating a masculine approach, and not making too many demands
<br>on the man.
<br>
<br>The next cite, which I won't bother to reproduce, is from a J.D.
<br>Salinger story published in _The New Yorker_ (May 4, 1957, pp.
<br>40-41).
<br>
<br>Our cite files do not have a whole lot of evidence for the word,
<br>which may explain its absence from the Collegiates, even as a run-on
<br>entry.  It should be in, though.  There is massive evidence for
<br>_impactful_ on Nexis, which I tabulate as follows:
<br>
<br>before 1985:  31 cites (earliest, _Forbes_, Aug. 15, 1975, p. 15)
<br>1985-89:  149 cites
<br>1990-93:  299 cites
<br>1994-95:  312 cites
<br>1996-97:  430 cites
<br>1998:  56 cites
<br>
<br>In evaluating this, one should keep in mind the great expansion in
<br>the number of publications on Nexis over the last eight or so years.
<br>As for derivatives, Nexis turned up the following:
<br>
<br>impactfully - 16 cites (earliest 1985)
<br>impactfulness - 3 cites
<br>unimpactful - 1 cite (1993)
<br>non-impactful and nonimpactful - 3 cites
<br>
<br>Much of the evidence for _impactful_ is from business, advertising,
<br>and marketing publications, though it is far from exclusive to these.
<br>Whatever one thinks of it, _impactful_ is well-embedded in American
<br>English.
<br>
<br>Jim Rader
<br>