> Incorrect based on what standard? Based on the part names the person wants to refer to. If you place an order and get exactly what you asked for but not what

> Incorrect based on what standard? Based on the part names the person wants to refer to. If you place an order and get exactly what you asked for but not what you want or need, you're wrong. > What standard for language correctness exists besides consensus? How many of us need to agree your name is Susan before you'll agree and get your ID corrected? > Neither is wrong. Terms mean the same thing all the time and context disambiguates perfectly fine. Well, not perfectly fine but we live with it. Why go out of your way to justify and propagate these errors? > Not a good analogy for several reasons: (1) both of those are from the same field so context can't disambiguate, Sure it can. You want your data so I know which piece you must mean. > (2) there's no widespread consensus that "hard drive" means "computer". In practice most people would misunderstand. There seems to be here. Maybe your area is more technically sophisticated or maybe they just make other mistakes. > I'm not fighting for my right to be wrong, because I'm not wrong. You can call "not right" whatever you wish. I'm not talking about taking back your culture's words or anything; I'm talking about technical cases where there's a clear right answer, and a vast assortment of answers that will not accomplish what you wish or will do it sub-optimally. > I don't mean to be rude but this sounds extremely smug to me. Is it also smug to be sure that 2+2 is 4? I'm not saying you need to attack people for being wrong, I'm just asking why you feel the need to join them as opposed to finding an actually correct thing and saying that. For people who don't know the names of fallacies, "begs the question" holds no special meaning and could be replaced by a multitude of phrases that would communicate clearly to experts and lay-people. When I do small consulting gigs I always try to be liberal in what I accept - I'll back up your data off of whatever you call it. But I always try to use correct terminology myself and I correct clients with "That's an X, if you ask for a Y you'll end up getting this other thing that's not quite what you want." (But I wait for the verification part of the meeting and I don't make a big deal of it.)