4 ms·

I never said I was opposed. Both "ritual" and "vexing" are magical language.

by windows_tips 8y ago

ksenzee 8y ago
Sorry, in what way are "ritual" and "vexing" magical language? They are both English words in relatively wide use.
- windows_tips 8y ago
  In what way are they not? Magical language can be in very wide use. I think one of the top grossing authors has written an entire series about magic.
  - bdcravens 8y ago
    From the article: "Many of our most vexing problems, from overeating to not saving enough for retirement to not working out enough have something in common: lack of self-control." The definition of the word: "make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried, especially with trivial matters" Still not seeing the magical connotation; seems pretty well grounded in human behavior, which is topical for Scientific American.
  - ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
    "I think one of the top grossing authors has written an entire series about magic." Wait.... what? Are you talking about Harry Potter? It's hard to tell if you started as serious but are now becoming a parody troll account.
gms7777 8y ago
'Ritual' can be used in religious or magical contexts, but is not inherently magical and is routinely used in other contexts. I don't actually know of any magical connotations for 'vexing', except that it sounds somewhat like 'hexing'.
- windows_tips 8y ago
  It's routinely used in some magical contexts. Vexing things are mysterious, which is often an object of magical displays.
svat 8y ago
"vexing" is defined as "annoying, worrying, or causing problems" [1]. I have encountered the word hundreds of times, but until your comment I wasn't aware that it was used in a magical context too. If you look up a linguistics corpus like the Corpus of Contemporary American English [2] or the British National Corpus [3] -- visit those sites, search for "vexing", and click on "VEXING" again -- you'll see a representative set of usages of the word "in the wild", and none of them appear to have anything to do with magic. There's also something in C++ called the "most vexing parse" [4], which too doesn't seem to have anything to do with magic. (By the way, you may like to try this exercise with "ritual" too, to see how the word is used in practice.) [1]: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vexing https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vexin... [2]: https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ [3]: https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_vexing_parse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_vexing_parse
- windows_tips 8y ago
  If you search the Authorized King James Version of the Bible you will find this[0] passage: >And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. [0] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+15%3A22&version=AKJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+15%3A22... It is deep in the literature that vexation is a domain of devils.
  - phyzome 8y ago
    Is "grevious" in the domain of devils, too? Begone, you.
    - windows_tips 8y ago
      I'm not sure, but from this context, it would seem that possibly, if "vexing" is also in the domain of others as well (seems so). >Begone, you. Not very welcoming around here?

I never said I was opposed. Both "ritual" and "vexing" are magical language.

ksenzee 8y ago

Sorry, in what way are "ritual" and "vexing" magical language? They are both English words in relatively wide use.

windows_tips 8y ago
In what way are they not? Magical language can be in very wide use. I think one of the top grossing authors has written an entire series about magic.
- bdcravens 8y ago
  From the article: "Many of our most vexing problems, from overeating to not saving enough for retirement to not working out enough have something in common: lack of self-control." The definition of the word: "make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried, especially with trivial matters" Still not seeing the magical connotation; seems pretty well grounded in human behavior, which is topical for Scientific American.
- ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
  "I think one of the top grossing authors has written an entire series about magic." Wait.... what? Are you talking about Harry Potter? It's hard to tell if you started as serious but are now becoming a parody troll account.

gms7777 8y ago

'Ritual' can be used in religious or magical contexts, but is not inherently magical and is routinely used in other contexts. I don't actually know of any magical connotations for 'vexing', except that it sounds somewhat like 'hexing'.

windows_tips 8y ago
It's routinely used in some magical contexts. Vexing things are mysterious, which is often an object of magical displays.

svat 8y ago

"vexing" is defined as "annoying, worrying, or causing problems" [1]. I have encountered the word hundreds of times, but until your comment I wasn't aware that it was used in a magical context too. If you look up a linguistics corpus like the Corpus of Contemporary American English [2] or the British National Corpus [3] -- visit those sites, search for "vexing", and click on "VEXING" again -- you'll see a representative set of usages of the word "in the wild", and none of them appear to have anything to do with magic. There's also something in C++ called the "most vexing parse" [4], which too doesn't seem to have anything to do with magic. (By the way, you may like to try this exercise with "ritual" too, to see how the word is used in practice.) [1]: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vexing https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vexin... [2]: https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ [3]: https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_vexing_parse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_vexing_parse

windows_tips 8y ago
If you search the Authorized King James Version of the Bible you will find this[0] passage: >And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. [0] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+15%3A22&version=AKJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+15%3A22... It is deep in the literature that vexation is a domain of devils.
- phyzome 8y ago
  Is "grevious" in the domain of devils, too? Begone, you.
  - windows_tips 8y ago
    I'm not sure, but from this context, it would seem that possibly, if "vexing" is also in the domain of others as well (seems so). >Begone, you. Not very welcoming around here?