Why does default JIRA workflow have 'Open' status instead of 'Opened'?

[Sergey Shmarkatyuk]

Is there any explanation to the awkward name 'Open' of the default jira workflow in version 5.1.x? All other statuses have proper names: 'Resolved', 'Closed', 'In Progress', 'Reopened'. And 'Open' falls out of the pattern. Is there any specific reason why this might have happened?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Open is a proper name. "Opened" would be "awkward" in both spoken and written English, because it's wrong. It just happens that Resolved, Closed and Re-opened are the words Atlassian have chosen to represent those three status in the workflow.

In fact, in-progress actually matches the pattern of "open" better than the other three - it's a description of a current state. You'd never say "in progressed" - that's completely mangled English (you'd say "started" if you wanted it to be consistent with the other three)

In English, you would say <object> is Open if it's open. We don't say "the door is opened" to describe it's current state, we say "the door is open". "Opened" is used to describe a past action, rather than a current state - "the door was opened" or even "the door was re-opened".

English grammar is fun... not.

[Radu Dumitriu]

Yeah, as a non-native English speaker, I say that English *looks simple* but when you're trying to express nuances it gets very easily damn *complicated*. But Open is a correct one, true.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It has a reputation of being a complex, nuanced and irrational language. As an Englishman, I can tell you that, well, um, it really deserves that reputation.

There's a lovely quote somewhere about English - it's something like "Many languages borrow from other languages, but English sometimes pursues them down dark alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets"