For some time now I've noticed people using the construction "it's concerning," used where I would say "it concerns me." I don't know why that should sound wrong, since it's perfectly normal to say "it's worrying," "it's alarming," and so on, but "it's concerning" is for some reason a new development and ipso facto, well, off-putting. Now I read in today's paper about a local high school senior who's a top-notch swimmer and has been getting lots of offers from colleges; having made up her mind to attend the University of New Hampshire, she said "It was relieving." That was off-putting in the same way, and again, there's no good reason why one shouldn't be able to turn "it relieved me" into "it was relieving." (A little research informed me that this too has been around for a while; Google turned up song lyrics like "And it was relieving when he walked away" and "It's so relieving/ To know that you're leaving as soon as you get paid.") So I turn to the Varied Reader and ask: do these constructions sound normal to you? And if you find them new and a bit odd, as I do, can you think of other similar ones?
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