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Words mean things, but meanings change over time. In the 21st century in the Western world, the noun "witch hunt" and the verb "to lynch" are generally underst
by cperciva 4y ago
Words mean things, but meanings change over time. In the 21st century in the Western world, the noun "witch hunt" and the verb "to lynch" are generally understood to be metaphorical in usage.
Similarly, if a journalist talks about a "political earthquake" or a "horse race" they don't mean that the earth is literally moving or that politicians are literally equine.
- tptacek 4y agoI think you're going to find people are less and less tolerant of semantic drift with the term "lynch". "Witch hunt" is a better term to use. For my part, I don't concede that there was anything like a witch hunt here. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, or to evaluate your own opinion. I did some reading, read the complaint in the guy's lawsuit, and none of this is clear to me. All I know is that I mentioned the guy's name near some biotech people and got "no mercy for anybody who Photoshops their western blots". I don't know what that means, so take it for what it's worth.
- cperciva 4y agoI don't think the (drifted) meanings of "lynch" and "witch hunt" are at all the same. The former applies in cases of "that guy is bad and we need to punish him"; the latter in cases of "there are bad people out there and we need to find them".
- tptacek 4y agoI'm not telling you how things ought to be (though I have my opinions there, too). I'm telling you how they are. You should avoid using the word "lynch" the way you are. It's a poor rhetorical strategy that will get you into long skinny threads like this more often than you want to be. But, you do you!
- cperciva 4y agoPoint taken. I'm in Canada which -- while it has its own embarrassing historical issues -- doesn't have the same recent history of literal lynchings which the American South has. So I can imagine that there might be more sensitivity to that term on your side of the border.