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I can understand the criticism about technical terms (they work better if stable and precise), but regarding the rest: that's just how language works. You can't
by rjtavares 4y ago
I can understand the criticism about technical terms (they work better if stable and precise), but regarding the rest: that's just how language works. You can't (and shouldn't) expect words to keep their original meaning forever.
For example, the word "term" comes from the original latin "terminus" that means "end" or "boundary". It only got the meaning you used it for centuries after it was first used in English. See: https://www.etymonline.com/word/term https://www.etymonline.com/word/term
- 411111111111111 4y agoOh, it wasn't my intention to criticize anything or anyone in particular with that comment. I was just pondering that our originally clearly defined terms are rapidly getting used in very confusing manner, which increases the difficulty of a discussion, as participants interpret words very differently. I dont think that people look up the actual definition of terms in a thesaurus anymore. They hear it in some context and create their own personal definition. It wasn't as obvious before the internet i think, but nowadays everyone is bombarded with technical terms all the time, which likely contributes massively to this increasingly fluid terminology