Infer, Imply, Affect, Effect - Those Terms.

[yellowstone123]

Infer or imply, effect or affect these words I tend not to use them when speaking. One time after being graduated from our local university and in my small space of hubris, I thought I would use these terms while speaking and used the word infer and my good friend at work S. said you mean imply. It was embarrassing and likely happened a few more times so I just stopped using them altogether. I hope I’m right when instead of using the word imply, I use the term “strongly suggest”, and not sure about infer.

As to affect or effect I try to steer away from those too and express those terms with other words if possible. I do know that at my old job I read many times from court orders which were handwritten - “all prior orders remain in full force and effect.” So, the court officer used it correctly.

I do remember my lesson in a class Elementary Statistics in Behavioral Sciences about the correlation coefficient. I could do the simple math to find the number. A positive correlation doesn’t mean one causes the other it just infers prediction. I’m not sure why they use the word infer. I could write down the number of street lamps on our street and compare them to the number of police patrol cars out in the area and do the simple math. If it was 20 and 20 the correlation would be 1. If it was 19 patrol cars to 20 street lamps it would be .9 something.

It was around 1988 I took the class and for some reason I think I still remember it correctly. The mean, mode and all that I would need a two-hour refreshing course or use google. If someone might point out a positive correlation between this and that suggesting one causes the other, I just let it go.

Don’t do unto others that you don’t want done unto you. Writers of the New Testament wrote that Jesus made that statement. I acknowledge it. I also say an Egyptian father likely told his young son the same thing six thousand years ago as they skipped rocks across the water at the Nile River.

[Imwashingmypirate]

Not really sure what your statistics has to do with using those words.

I think the problem is that people confuse the words and don't necessarily know what they mean but just use them because they are used to hearing them in a particular context.

To me imply is like hinting. To suggest something but not actually say it. Infer is kind of word in the science community. You are suggesting relating to evidence rather than finding a long way around. A conclusions. These results would infer that my hypothesis was correct. These results would imply my hypothesis is correct. Infer is correct here. Implying sounds like there's a level of unsurety in whether or not the results relate. Infer shows the evidence.

As someone with an element of science and mathematics in your background, inferring would be a more natural word for you than someone who hasn't used the word.

Implying has a more negative energy to it than inferring in every day conversations.

Affect and effect just confuse people. I think effect is the result and affect is what you are doing but I'm not entirely confident using these words and without googling I couldn't define them. I just think cause and effect.

[yellowstone123]

Not really sure what your statistics has to do with using those words.

I think the problem is that people confuse the words and don't necessarily know what they mean but just use them because they are used to hearing them in a particular context.

To me imply is like hinting. To suggest something but not actually say it. Infer is kind of word in the science community. You are suggesting relating to evidence rather than finding a long way around. A conclusions. These results would infer that my hypothesis was correct. These results would imply my hypothesis is correct. Infer is correct here. Implying sounds like there's a level of unsurety in whether or not the results relate. Infer shows the evidence.

As someone with an element of science and mathematics in your background, inferring would be a more natural word for you than someone who hasn't used the word.

Implying has a more negative energy to it than inferring in every day conversations.

Affect and effect just confuse people. I think effect is the result and affect is what you are doing but I'm not entirely confident using these words and without googling I couldn't define them. I just think cause and effect.

Thank you, imwashingmypirate. It really helps.

[Some Schmo]

To imply means to suggest, or allude to something.

To infer is to derive an unspoken meaning. Someone might imply something to me, and if I'm sharp, I'll infer what they are implying.

Affect is a verb, while effect is a noun. So, I can affect some outcome by intervening somehow. If someone does something to me, it can have an effect on me.

[yellowstone123]

Thanks Schmo.

"Playing cards at the table I looked at my friend who was standing right behind my opponent. His eyes widened, looked up at me and shook his head"

[Jersey Girl]

Don’t do unto others that you don’t want done unto you. Writers of the New Testament wrote that Jesus made that statement. I acknowledge it.

Well, kind of but it wasn't exactly a don't do. It was more of a proactive positive statement. It's here:

Matthew 7:12 KJV
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

I also say an Egyptian father likely told his young son the same thing six thousand years ago as they skipped rocks across the water at the Nile River.

I don't know if it's likely. I'd say it's possible though.

[yellowstone123]

Don’t do unto others that you don’t want done unto you. Writers of the New Testament wrote that Jesus made that statement. I acknowledge it.

Well, kind of but it wasn't exactly a don't do. It was more of a proactive positive statement. It's here:

Matthew 7:12 KJV
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

I also say an Egyptian father likely told his young son the same thing six thousand years ago as they skipped rocks across the water at the Nile River.

I don't know if it's likely. I'd say it's possible though.

Sorry, that was Confucius with the don't do unto others that you don't want done unto you. But as to Matthew, do people in 2024 believe this? Do they do this? I guess it depends on where one lives but many people say this is a good thing, but just walk pass the poor, the outcasts, the crippled and think nothing of it. And they are on their way to church.

[Jersey Girl]

Well, kind of but it wasn't exactly a don't do. It was more of a proactive positive statement. It's here:

Matthew 7:12 KJV
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.



I don't know if it's likely. I'd say it's possible though.

Sorry, that was Confucius with the don't do unto others that you don't want done unto you.

Ha! I was obviously confused by Confucius!

[yellowstone123]

Sorry, that was Confucius with the don't do unto others that you don't want done unto you.

Ha! I was obviously confused by Confucius!

Thanks Jersey Girl. I can see your point. I added some other stuff when you posted a response. I do see your point. If on the freeway all lanes are reduced to one due to construction do you allow the guy in the 18-wheeler who has been signaling for the past 10 minutes a space in front of you. Of course you do. It's being kind and if you were in the same situation, you would like someone to open up a space for you.

[Physics Guy]

Implying is saying something without quite saying it. Inferring is hearing something that wasn't quite said.

It's true that "affect" is usually a verb, and "effect" is usually a noun. If you affect something, then you have an effect on it.

Unfortunately there are some more seldom-used words with somewhat different meanings that happen to be spelled the same.

There is a noun "affect" which means something like "display of emotions". The noun "affect" is pronounced differently from the verb "affect", with the emphasis on the first syllable instead of the second. It's related to the more common noun "affection". A clinical way of saying that someone seems to under-react to things, emotionally, is to say that they have "flattened affect".

There is also a verb "affect" that is not about having effects on things, but is instead related to the noun "affect". It's still pronounced the same as the more common verb "affect", emphasizing the second syllable. This "affect" verb is about faking an emotion or attitude. You can affect to be offended, meaning that you act offended even though you're not really. If somebody's attitude or manner comes across as fake you can say that they are "affected". If someone is affecting a mood or characteristic, then this fake characteristic of theirs is an affectation. In contrast, if someone's attitude is sincere then it is unaffected. This kind of "unaffected" is a different word from the "unaffected" that means something had no effect on you.

And there is a rarely used verb "effect" which is kind of related to the usual "effect" noun, but in a stronger sense. If you affect something, then your effect on it might be large or it might be small, but if you effect something, then you make that thing happen. You can effect a change, or effect the end of some process.

"I realize that you were only affecting affection, and discovering your affectation has affected me deeply. The effect it has had on me is that I am hereby effecting an end to our relationship. Your current seemingly unaffected apology leaves my decision unaffected."