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Phobic doesn't just mean afraid. Hydrophobic molecules for example.
by pseudalopex 5y ago
Phobic doesn't just mean afraid. Hydrophobic molecules for example.
- taneq 5y agoPhobic literally means fear, from the ancient Greek 'phobos', meaning... fear. It's used for things (like hydrophobic molecules) that avoid other things (in this case water) as if they fear them. Unless we're doing one of those "literally literally means figuratively" things here in which case... meh? Just to be crystal clear here, I'm not saying we don't have groups who are anti-X for whatever value of X. I'm saying that recasting (and often miscasting) that antipathy as (maybe masked) fear is counterproductive.
- pseudalopex 5y agoThat's the etymological fallacy. Phobic literally means having an intolerance or aversion for.[1] [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- taneq 5y agoThere's still a chasm between "having an intolerance of or aversion for" and "being mean to".
- pseudalopex 5y agoBeing mean to people because they belong to a group is intolerant of that group.
- slipframe 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_phobia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_phobia > Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object or situation.[1][2] Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the object or situation, persistence of the fear, and significant distress or problems functioning associated with the fear. A phobia can be the fear of anything. Whatever the term originally meant to the greeks, it does seem to be knit with the concept of fear today.
- pseudalopex 5y agoThe suffix has more than 1 meaning.[1] [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic