3 ms·
Completely OT, but I'm a bit fed up with "X considered harmful" headlines. Considered by whom? No one says "Chocolates are considered tasty" to express a person
by rich_sasha 4y ago
Completely OT, but I'm a bit fed up with "X considered harmful" headlines. Considered by whom? No one says "Chocolates are considered tasty" to express a personal opinion. There's an implication of the opinion being held by "us", or a wide body whose opinion matters (like general public).
But these headlines pop up everywhere and, at best, present an opinion, usually of one person who neither surveyed a large group nor has the authority to make such claims personally.
I might write an article "Articles \"X considered harmful\" considered harmful".
- defanor 4y ago> I might write an article "Articles \"X considered harmful\" considered harmful". People were annoyed by those and wrote such an essay at least 20 years ago [1,2] (possibly there were others). Didn't help much, but generally fighting idioms/memes/fashion doesn't seem quite productive: perhaps it's more useful to focus on not being frustrated by those (and accept the way this phrase is used). Edit: Though ranting about titles on HN is still a fine activity, not trying to discourage that. Just an idle musing on being more content with those. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_harmful#Snowclones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_harmful#Snowclones [2] https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html
- rich_sasha 4y agoAh thanks, nice to know there's a little lynch mob of us!