3 ms·
You should have looked in some more dictionaries. That definition is too strict. Merrian-Webster: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything
by Confusion 16y ago
You should have looked in some more dictionaries. That definition is too strict.
Merrian-Webster:
fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything
that is strange or foreign
Dictionary.com:
an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers
or of that which is foreign or strange.
Yourdictionary.com:
fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything
foreign or strange
Cambridge Advanced Learners dictionary:
extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs,
their religions, etc.
- alnayyir 16y agoNo, it's just descriptivist trash and proper use of the language. More like, should've looked it up in the dictionary and found neophobia. Intellectual laziness is not just cause for using words improperly.
- Confusion 16y agoNeophobia is not the correct word to use, because it's not necessarily about new things. Not even about things new to a specific person. Some BSD admin may irrationally and violently dislike Linux variants of his tools. It's always nice to have a proper word available, but sometimes it just doesn't exist. If you can think of a clear, succinct description to replace 'a xenophobic attitude' when you want to say someone is irrationally negative about something and you think it's because of the unfamiliarity of the thing, then I'm listening.