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I don't quite understand your comment, but I think you have your definition of "silver bullet" backwards. It means a solution that works incredibly, almost magi

I don't quite understand your comment, but I think you have your definition of "silver bullet" backwards. It means a solution that works incredibly, almost magically, well.

mdp2021 4y ago
No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. One of the first occurrences of the idea was the response of the Oracle of Delphi to Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander), "With silver arms you may conquer the world". In this case the idea made sense on all planes: Philip understood that he could use bribery to achieve victory, and it worked. But then the idea went on in folklore as a miraculous solution: you "could" use them against spells, then witches, then werewolves, vampires etc. Many reasons may conflate in the whole idea. What happens next is the capillary reach of the scientific mindset, placing silver and the said "evils it cures" in a different place, farther from "dreamlike" perspectives. So, today it is often said a "silver bullet" something that is said to be a "miraculous solution" - but that in reality is just a piece of shiny, alluring metal working well as an excuse to seduce a public in search of hopes, however ill-placed. Populists e.g. are said to have "silver bullets" ready against any sociopolitical illness - they have "solutions" presented as a miracle cure, but they just do not stand scientifically, effectively - though they may be effective in prolonging a career as an elected representative.
- losvedir 4y ago
  > No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. Yes, you're re-asserting that, but I still disagree, at least in my dialect of General American English. Maybe you're in the UK and it's different there? In my experience, you almost always hear it as part of the negative: "X is not a silver bullet". That phrase has your meaning of "ineffective but seducing". The implication then is that the silver bullet is effective. Magically so. Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf. The thing that began this whole inane conversation was the mildly interesting use of "silver bullet" in the positive: > ChatGPT is the silver bullet, you can't convince me otherwise. The poster is taking the "no silver bullet" idiom and flipping it on its head. The "standard" usage would say "ChatGPT is no silver bullet", meaning it's not a magical solution to all problems. By negating it (and using the idiom unusually in the positive), they're saying that it is magically effective and can work on all problems.
  - mdp2021 4y ago
    > inane Well, if you find it uninteresting, do not make it happen. I just showed you a bit of history of the expression, including the warning - do not assume that (especially globally) it is used your way. (Yes, if you are Tennessee it may be more frequently one way, in Singapore maybe the opposite...) You write «Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf» - and I am telling you that in fact that covers the slice of the population that also holds that silver bullets are in fact completely ineffective, in spite of the story, although it has consideration among people who mentally live in the world where werewolves roam. > The poster is It is clear what the user did: in fact, posts ago, I noticed that it is «ironic». The poster said "it is a silver bullet", and that is peculiar because some would reply to that "do not forget your magic cloak to approach more confidently", or similar.
    - losvedir 4y ago
      Look, there's nothing unusual or ironic about the use of "silver bullet" in either the top level comment or the first response. That's just how the idiom is used. I would be curious if you could offer an example of "silver bullet" used as you're saying some people do. All the examples I can find are the the way I've been saying. For example, the top three Google News hits for "silver bullet": * Be excited about EPR, even if it’s not a silver bullet [0] * Immigration: Silver Bullet for Nursing Shortage? [1] * Offsets Are Not A Silver Bullet [2] In all of these, "silver bullet" could be replaced with "totally effective solution". That's how OP used it as well. You're saying that a "silver bullet" could mean "ineffective but seducing". If that were the case, the headlines would instead be: * Be excited about EPR, because it's not a silver bullet. * Offsets Are A Silver Bullet. I've never seen it used that way. And that's not how the OP used it or the first commenter interpreted it. It's not impossible it's used differently somewhere, if so I'd be curious to know. I know, for example, that "the point is moot" and "let's table the discussion" have opposite meanings in British and American English, for example. [0] https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-if-its-not-silver-bullet https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-i... [1] https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet-for-nursing-shortage/?slreturn=20230315140156 https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet... [3] https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver-bullet/ https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver...

I don't quite understand your comment, but I think you have your definition of "silver bullet" backwards. It means a solution that works incredibly, almost magically, well.

mdp2021 4y ago

No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. One of the first occurrences of the idea was the response of the Oracle of Delphi to Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander), "With silver arms you may conquer the world". In this case the idea made sense on all planes: Philip understood that he could use bribery to achieve victory, and it worked. But then the idea went on in folklore as a miraculous solution: you "could" use them against spells, then witches, then werewolves, vampires etc. Many reasons may conflate in the whole idea. What happens next is the capillary reach of the scientific mindset, placing silver and the said "evils it cures" in a different place, farther from "dreamlike" perspectives. So, today it is often said a "silver bullet" something that is said to be a "miraculous solution" - but that in reality is just a piece of shiny, alluring metal working well as an excuse to seduce a public in search of hopes, however ill-placed. Populists e.g. are said to have "silver bullets" ready against any sociopolitical illness - they have "solutions" presented as a miracle cure, but they just do not stand scientifically, effectively - though they may be effective in prolonging a career as an elected representative.

losvedir 4y ago
> No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. Yes, you're re-asserting that, but I still disagree, at least in my dialect of General American English. Maybe you're in the UK and it's different there? In my experience, you almost always hear it as part of the negative: "X is not a silver bullet". That phrase has your meaning of "ineffective but seducing". The implication then is that the silver bullet is effective. Magically so. Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf. The thing that began this whole inane conversation was the mildly interesting use of "silver bullet" in the positive: > ChatGPT is the silver bullet, you can't convince me otherwise. The poster is taking the "no silver bullet" idiom and flipping it on its head. The "standard" usage would say "ChatGPT is no silver bullet", meaning it's not a magical solution to all problems. By negating it (and using the idiom unusually in the positive), they're saying that it is magically effective and can work on all problems.
- mdp2021 4y ago
  > inane Well, if you find it uninteresting, do not make it happen. I just showed you a bit of history of the expression, including the warning - do not assume that (especially globally) it is used your way. (Yes, if you are Tennessee it may be more frequently one way, in Singapore maybe the opposite...) You write «Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf» - and I am telling you that in fact that covers the slice of the population that also holds that silver bullets are in fact completely ineffective, in spite of the story, although it has consideration among people who mentally live in the world where werewolves roam. > The poster is It is clear what the user did: in fact, posts ago, I noticed that it is «ironic». The poster said "it is a silver bullet", and that is peculiar because some would reply to that "do not forget your magic cloak to approach more confidently", or similar.
  - losvedir 4y ago
    Look, there's nothing unusual or ironic about the use of "silver bullet" in either the top level comment or the first response. That's just how the idiom is used. I would be curious if you could offer an example of "silver bullet" used as you're saying some people do. All the examples I can find are the the way I've been saying. For example, the top three Google News hits for "silver bullet": * Be excited about EPR, even if it’s not a silver bullet [0] * Immigration: Silver Bullet for Nursing Shortage? [1] * Offsets Are Not A Silver Bullet [2] In all of these, "silver bullet" could be replaced with "totally effective solution". That's how OP used it as well. You're saying that a "silver bullet" could mean "ineffective but seducing". If that were the case, the headlines would instead be: * Be excited about EPR, because it's not a silver bullet. * Offsets Are A Silver Bullet. I've never seen it used that way. And that's not how the OP used it or the first commenter interpreted it. It's not impossible it's used differently somewhere, if so I'd be curious to know. I know, for example, that "the point is moot" and "let's table the discussion" have opposite meanings in British and American English, for example. [0] https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-if-its-not-silver-bullet https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-i... [1] https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet-for-nursing-shortage/?slreturn=20230315140156 https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet... [3] https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver-bullet/ https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver...