The word partner used as a verb annoys me. It's fingernails-on-a-chalkboard awful to my ears. Every time I see it, I want to grab the fattest, juiciest, darkest red pen I can find and cross it out in a definitive way. If you really want to bug me, invite me to "partner" with you on some project. No matter how cool your project is, I already hate it.
That's a common affliction among writers and other word-oriented people. We have aversions to certain words. And our aversions can be so deep that seeing or hearing certain words can ruin our whole day.
Another word the a lot of people hate is impact. That one doesn't bother me, but I can see their point: It's an officious, soulless abstraction that propagates in mindless business meetings where people are required to talk but not allowed to think.
A post at the Macmillan Dictionary Blog takes an interesting look at word aversions and advises tolerance (How does 'impact' impact you?):
We have a tendency to generalize from our feelings, leaping too easily from "I dislike this usage" to "This is wrong" or even "No one should ever say this anywhere." It's natural that we would want to universalize our preferences, but it's not very reasonable or practical. Better to examine why we might object to a legitimate word.
The word you hate may not be an appropriate candidate for banishment from all human discourse.
If a word is something real people in your audience say, if it's something that has meaning and resonance for them -- you should at least consider letting it by.
Fundraising is not about you and your preferences. It's about your donors.
Thanks to @GrammarGirl for the tip.
