4 ms·
Not to be pedantic or anything but that's an incorrect use of the word "anti-social". anti-social = disruptive or destructive to society (https://en.wikipedia.
by ThrowawayR2 7y ago
Not to be pedantic or anything but that's an incorrect use of the word "anti-social".
anti-social = disruptive or destructive to society (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour)
asocial = lack of desire to be social (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asociality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asociality)
- optimuspaul 7y agoThank you.
- cassiet 7y agoI’m not a fan of asocial, it sounds passive, ambivalent. I’ll keep using anti-social for this, since anti-societal would be more apt for that concept.
- toomanybeersies 7y agoMaybe it's a US vs British English thing, but I definitely associate "anti-social" with meaning disruptive to society (e.g. Anti-social behaviour orders in the UK [1]) Upon saying that, "asocial" doesn't really sound right to me. I'd probably go with "non-social" or maybe more poetically use "misanthropic". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour_order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour_order
- matt_j 7y agoThere's nuance to each of the terms. Asocial is what I would say an introvert often is; avoids social interaction without necessarily wishing ill, perhaps dislikes being in the company of others. Anti-social behaviour is disruptive to others, perhaps violent.
- gbrown 7y agoThere's more than one definition of antisocial. The second definition from Oxford is "Not sociable; not wanting the company of others". This usage is colloquially extremely common. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/antisocial https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/antisocial
- lainga 7y agoWell, you're all wrong, because I define sociability as a network of vectors, and I say 'antisocial' is when you reciprocate someone's sociability back toward them (along the same vector, but in the opposite direction).
- Funes- 7y ago>Well, you're all wrong, because I define sociability as [...] Jesus... Do you read what you write before you post it?
- searchableguy 7y agoI think he was being sarcastic.
- jwilber 7y agoHonestly shocked that people don’t see that as being obvious sarcasm.
- Funes- 7y agoYeah, sure; I'm equally appalled Poe's Law hasn't been considered, especially on a site like HN.
- wrinklytidbits 7y agoI recommend adding a "/s" to the end of sarcastic comments for those of us who have trouble interpreting sarcasm
- monadic2 7y agoI don’t believe the DSM still uses the term anti-social for precisely this reason.