[jon-wood]

I’m curious when people swapped the word reply with revert. I keep seeing people use phrases like “I’ll revert” when what they mean is “I’ll look into that and get back to you”. Particularly working in software I always have to stop myself when the initial reaction is that they’ve just said they’ll undo what I’ve requested.

[taejo]

I believe that this usage is archaic in British business English rather than an innovation! However, it was conserved in business English in India and some other countries, and perhaps the increased interaction between Americans and Indians and in the software industry means you're just exposed to it more often?

[tomatocracy]

The word revert, with this meaning, is still in widespread use in business in Britain too, in my experience.

[growlist]

Doubtful. I've worked in the UK for more than 20 years, and the only time I've ever heard this usage is within outsourced IT providers in India.

[tomatocracy]

Perhaps it's industry specific but in finance/investment I see it used all the time (and I use it myself - I'm a Brit).

[jon-wood]

I’ve seen the word used in that context at two different UK companies.

[bartread]

Not in the circles I run in. If somebody said that in a meeting it would be so weird I'd probably question it because, and particularly in our environment, I'm pretty sure it would confuse everyone.

[hibbelig]

Yes. When you send an email about a commit, and you get a reply that they will “revert back” some time later, you can be very confused.

Especially if you use git or svn, given that “git revert” and “svn revert” exist.

[mclightning]

As others have also pointed out, I also encountered this one with Indians.