How to pronounce: ri-vurt
Very Indian and very corporate word.
English dictionary meaning: To return to a previous state or condition.
Meaning in Indian offices: To reply.
General usage:
“Please revert by evening.”
What it means: Reply before leaving today, or else…
Classic: “Kindly revert on the below.”
What it means: Just make sure you reply to the email I sent you!
One more example: “Awaiting your revert.” (!)
What it means: Why the hell haven’t you replied yet?!
Another Classic: “Please revert back.”
What it means: Grammarians have now dug a hole and buried themselves.
Nobody knows when and how ‘Revert’ began its career in Indian workplaces. But it has probably been around since the days of the handwritten memos and fax machines. The poor little word, which originally meant “return to an earlier condition”, developed a second career along the way – “get back to me”. And it continues to sit proudly in thousands of email inboxes and CCs. What a career!
And Indian workplaces strongly emphasise that one has to revert “back”. Better to make sure, otherwise the response might change direction.
So, if you want to give your feedback to Karyalok, kindly revert back by EOD.