Grammar gripes, volume 27
Today's theme: verbs that have become nouns for no good reason, threatening to replace perfectly serviceable preexisting synonyms.
Invite (pronounced as the made-up word that it is: 'in-vite): "Dude, my invite arrived yesterday and I'm, like, so psyched." Perhaps the speaker meant "invitation."
Reveal: "Dude, she was totally, like, 'wow' after the reveal." I know that "revelation" sounds too important for these situations; "unveiling" fits nicely, and has the nice extra feature of actually being an English word.
Ask: "Dude, like, what exactly is your ask?" In the words of another true believer, this is a terrible, terrible grammar plague that has infected the corporate world. Although there is a noun form (the "ask," which is short for "asking price" in securities trading), it's a term of art that is understood to be shorthand.
Standard disclaimer: yes, I'm sure you can find a dictionary that defends the other position. Yes, I still understand what these speakers were trying to say. Yes, I'm tremendously judgmental and my complaining about these linguistic nits is no doubt symptomatic of various deeper problems with my personality.
I totally can't stand people using "Ask" instead of "Request". It seems like this disease spread from a company in Redmond .
I don't think your standard disclaimer would apply to the "second two" examples. Have you heard these in personal conversations? I can't imagine you hanging out with "dudes"? Are these your students? "Invite" doesn't make me cringe too much, but "reveal" seems like a major jump in the evolution (or devolution?) of English. "Ask" makes sense only within the confines of that particular field. Did you hear that in some other negotiation?