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I should've expanded on my example more, since Anglo-American history is not universally taught around the globe. The Puritans were a more radical branch of th
by Pils 7y ago
I should've expanded on my example more, since Anglo-American history is not universally taught around the globe.
The Puritans were a more radical branch of the Church of England, famous for their early role in the American colonies. "Puritanical," according to Wiktionary, has two meanings: one referring to things related to the aforementioned group, and the other to "Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict; overscrupulous; rigid (often used by way of reproach or contempt)."[0]
Of course, one could argue that this is an adequate synonym for the word "devout." However, saying the Pope is devout is very different from saying the Pope is puritanical (and, given the word's history, somewhat ironic). It is technically correct, similar to your definition.
> The only bait-and-switch here would be if I sometimes pejoratively referred to policies as "politically incorrect" which did not in fact meet the definition I provided
Why would you pejoratively refer to something as "politically incorrect," if you think political correctness is bad?
[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/puritanical https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/puritanical
- lliamander 7y ago> should've expanded on my example more, since Anglo-American history is not universally taught around the globe. No worries, I actually live in the States and I have Puritan ancestors. I just don't think your analogy is correct. Let me see if I can reconstruct your analogy in a way to show why I think it fails. We can think of two definitions for "puritanical": A) Devout (neutral connotation) B) Excessively dogmatic (negative connotation) In this case, (B) is the more correct definition because it captures the connotation. You claim my definition is closer to (A), whereas I think mine is closer to (B). Namely, by highlighting the fact that the suppression of speech is done "without regard to it's truth or falsehood" I think that's a pretty clear red flag. Of course, this is more or less consistent with how it was originally used by the people who originally coined the term and had positive associations with it. > Why would you pejoratively refer to something as "politically incorrect," if you think political correctness is bad? Sorry, typo. I meant "pejoratively referred to policies as 'politically correct'".