3 ms·
It's ridiculous to overload a word that is commonly used and understood instead of inventing an unambiguous new word.
by mhb 3y ago
It's ridiculous to overload a word that is commonly used and understood instead of inventing an unambiguous new word.
- rpastuszak 3y agoBut that’s a very common process that happens in virtually* every language.
- mhb 3y agoSo is inventing new words. Urban Dictionary much? Which do you prefer - a language that evolves to become more expressive or one that morphs into a miasma that requires disambiguation?
- rpastuszak 3y agoI think you're describing a false dichotomy. A language can become more expressive through any of these processes (e.g. neologisms or shifting meanings described before), often working in tandem.
- mhb 3y agoAnd how does that relate to this specific example of it being ridiculous to use the ambiguous "them" as a singular pronoun instead of picking a new word? Are you saying that the use of "them" is more expressive or do you just want to abstract the issue into irrelevance?
- emodendroket 3y agoBeing more or less expressive doesn't necessarily have much to do with it. When we lost a number of verb conjugations or collapsed singular and plural second-person pronouns that didn't make the language more expressive. Arguably the opposite was true. Notwithstanding, thou dost not insist on using these archaic language features, I imagine.
- pjc50 3y agoPeople tried to invent all sorts of neopronouns but none of them (there's that word again) stuck.
- emodendroket 3y agoYeah, that's why I reject the notion of calling the computer screen a "desktop."
- Georgelemental 3y agoIt's ridiculous in that it takes the reader several paragraphs to understand that only one person is being referred to.
- mftrhu 3y agoYou think?
- mhb 3y agoWell, I and Georgelemental.