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Science From your kid's science project to relativity, this is the place to discuss it. |
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#121
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![]() Quote:
What's the definition of tweet?
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"Inflation is the opium of the masses." - Henry Hazlitt "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” - F.A. Hayek |
#122
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![]() You have to read my response in context. Michael was talking about the evolution of specific words in which meanings get turned around 180 degrees.
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#123
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![]() I've read the entire thread. My point is that words do not change meaning overnight, and to say it is only ignorance that changes the meaning of words, even in that context, is wrong. Everything I mentioned influences language gradually. If the meaning of a word has evolved to mean the opposite of what it used to 300 years ago, it didn't have to do it in one day. The word tweet, for example, has recently been giving a new meaning because of a new technology. It has been slightly altered. That slight alteration could give rise to it being used in another context even further removed from its 'original' meaning somewhere down the road. Ignorance isn't necessarily a factor.
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"Inflation is the opium of the masses." - Henry Hazlitt "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” - F.A. Hayek |
#124
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#125
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![]() Quote:
The term "boy" or "girl" both originate in the English language as terms specifically for servants. Both terms have developed a new and common meaning as generic terms for children or minors. But if you call an adult black man a "boy" you are implying the old meaning of the word and that's obnoxious and racist, even though that man is indeed, a male.
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Remember what the dormouse said: Feed your head! |
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