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I don't consider "compulsory" to mean involuntary. Something like a muscle twitch or spasm is involuntary, whereas something that's compulsory just means you f
by grimmdude 10y ago
I don't consider "compulsory" to mean involuntary. Something like a muscle twitch or spasm is involuntary, whereas something that's compulsory just means you feel the need to do it, not necessarily involuntary though. I do understand your point though, thanks for your comment.
- hsitz 10y agoYes, but if you're trying to communicate to other people, you can't focus on what you yourself consider to be the meanings; you need to focus on how other people understand the words. I suspect that your use of "compulsory" would be better understood if you used the word 'compulsive' instead. "Compulsory" generally means "required", "not optional", and I think that may be why people misunderstand your descriptions. See, e.g., http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/2010/06/100608_aae_compulsive.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/a...
- cjcole 10y ago"adj. Employing or exerting compulsion; coercive." Restless leg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome) runs in my family. It's not the same thing of course, but it lives in the same space of "voluntary but compelled" actions. I understood what you were saying perfectly.