This article brings together reflections on the impact agenda from two separate sources: a conference at the University of Warwick in August 2009, and a speech given at the University of Leeds some weeks before. It develops these reflections with particular reference to Modern Languages, reviewing how the Humanities probe other value systems, deal with the singular and provisional, and take discourse as their product and process in ways that offer both theoretical and pragmatic benefits. The article suggests that, rather than simply jumping on the bandwagon of "measurement" and the market where impact is concerned, the Humanities should explore ways of rethinking the outdated, simplistic "marketmimicry" that Michael Sandel critiqued in his 2009 Reith lectures. (Contains 2 notes.)