4 ms·

i've never heard of a parasitic relationship being described as symbiotic...

kaycebasques 2y ago
> "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." > "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." > "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master – that's all."
- prewett 2y ago
  It's all fun and games by Lewis Carroll, but given the amount of doublespeak in American cities these days (especially by the Left but also by the Right), I think we need to insist that words have a meaning and you can't twist them to mean the opposite.
  - kaycebasques 2y ago
    I am literally sourcing my definition from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article on symbiosis I totally get it. People usually mean "mutually beneficial" when they talk about symbiosis. But the deeper we go into this Hacker News thread, the more amusing it gets to me that multiple commenters are really struggling to acknowledge the broader meaning of the term. And what's even funnier is that the broader meaning probably originates from biologists and ecologists; people who are very invested in precise language in this space.
    - binary132 2y ago
      You cannot use Wikipedia as a source, everyone knows this.
      - kaycebasques 2y ago
        We will put aside that debate :) but I appreciate your deep-dive over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40876979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40876979
- mncharity 2y ago
  Google Trends for parasitic symbiosis etal seems interestingly different for US[1] and Worldwide[2], suggesting the possibility of regionally divergent usage. [1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%22parasitic%20symbiosis%22,%22commensalism%20symbiosis%22,parasitic%20symbiosis&hl=en-US https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%... [2] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%22parasitic%20symbiosis%22,%22commensalism%20symbiosis%22,parasitic%20symbiosis&hl=en-US https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%22paras...

> "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." > "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." > "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master – that's all."

prewett 2y ago
It's all fun and games by Lewis Carroll, but given the amount of doublespeak in American cities these days (especially by the Left but also by the Right), I think we need to insist that words have a meaning and you can't twist them to mean the opposite.
- kaycebasques 2y ago
  I am literally sourcing my definition from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article on symbiosis I totally get it. People usually mean "mutually beneficial" when they talk about symbiosis. But the deeper we go into this Hacker News thread, the more amusing it gets to me that multiple commenters are really struggling to acknowledge the broader meaning of the term. And what's even funnier is that the broader meaning probably originates from biologists and ecologists; people who are very invested in precise language in this space.
  - binary132 2y ago
    You cannot use Wikipedia as a source, everyone knows this.
    - kaycebasques 2y ago
      We will put aside that debate :) but I appreciate your deep-dive over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40876979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40876979
mncharity 2y ago
Google Trends for parasitic symbiosis etal seems interestingly different for US[1] and Worldwide[2], suggesting the possibility of regionally divergent usage. [1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%22parasitic%20symbiosis%22,%22commensalism%20symbiosis%22,parasitic%20symbiosis&hl=en-US https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%... [2] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%22parasitic%20symbiosis%22,%22commensalism%20symbiosis%22,parasitic%20symbiosis&hl=en-US https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%22paras...