3 ms·

“People will know what I mean, so why bother being correct or specific” is a flimsy argument, to me, as to why a person shouldn’t care about using correct and p

“People will know what I mean, so why bother being correct or specific” is a flimsy argument, to me, as to why a person shouldn’t care about using correct and precise language. Nor does it really challenge the need for correct and precise language in the first place. Small children say things incorrectly and we still understand them. Should we all talk like that?

stouset 2y ago
Language is fluid and changes over time. Pedantically clinging to distinctions that no longer serve useful purposes doesn’t stop this from happening. If a clear separation in meaning between the two words was useful, their distinct use would become more closely adhered to over time. If not, people will start to blend and confuse the two. Of those options, the latter has happened and will likely continue happening with or without your objections. That this has happened is pretty clear evidence that the distinction hasn’t been worth maintaining. > Small children say things incorrectly and we still understand them. Should we all talk like that? Fully grown, articulate adults say things “incorrectly” all the time and nobody bats an eye. The sentence “Hey, where you going?” is missing an entire verb and every one of us has said and heard that sentence (or one like it) hundreds of times without anyone noticing or caring.
- alex_lav 2y ago
  Yes, exactly. Language is fluid and the value of preciseness depends entirely on context. As in, when discussing language design (like we’re doing in this blog post and these comments), method vs function is important. Because of the context. So, when you’re talking to your coworkers about…whatever… the context probably makes method vs function insignificant. Unless you work in language design, in which case your take is just pretty blatantly awful.

3 ms·

“People will know what I mean, so why bother being correct or specific” is a flimsy argument, to me, as to why a person shouldn’t care about using correct and p

by alex_lav 2y ago

stouset 2y ago
Language is fluid and changes over time. Pedantically clinging to distinctions that no longer serve useful purposes doesn’t stop this from happening. If a clear separation in meaning between the two words was useful, their distinct use would become more closely adhered to over time. If not, people will start to blend and confuse the two. Of those options, the latter has happened and will likely continue happening with or without your objections. That this has happened is pretty clear evidence that the distinction hasn’t been worth maintaining. > Small children say things incorrectly and we still understand them. Should we all talk like that? Fully grown, articulate adults say things “incorrectly” all the time and nobody bats an eye. The sentence “Hey, where you going?” is missing an entire verb and every one of us has said and heard that sentence (or one like it) hundreds of times without anyone noticing or caring.
- alex_lav 2y ago
  Yes, exactly. Language is fluid and the value of preciseness depends entirely on context. As in, when discussing language design (like we’re doing in this blog post and these comments), method vs function is important. Because of the context. So, when you’re talking to your coworkers about…whatever… the context probably makes method vs function insignificant. Unless you work in language design, in which case your take is just pretty blatantly awful.