2 ms·

I know it's probably just for the headline but "Motor Doping" is the stupidest term I have heard since "kamikaze drone"

• 4ggr0 2y ago
  what's the problem with "kamikaze drone"?
  • somat 2y ago
    2 things The most important, kamikaze is a term used specifically for a human terminaly guiding themself along with their bomb onto the target. This is what made it so horrifying, If you are doing it remotely, it is not kamikaze, if a computer is guiding, it is not kamikazi. Secondly, Why invent a new term? If I asked "what do you call a device that is launched, autonomously guides itself to a destination, then explodes" the answer would be a "guided missile", this term has served this role well for many years, drones were unmanned aircraft used mainly for reconnaissance or training/target duty. When you strapped a bomb to it, the term for this sort of unmanned aircraft was "cruise missile" This is also my problem with the term "motor doping". doping makes absolutely no sense here in any previously used form of the word. When the magic low friction swimsuit was developed then banned, nobody called it cloth doping. the banned brush spike for running shoes, nobody called it shoe doping. Just because you are cheating does not make it doping.
    • 4ggr0 2y ago
      i don't know, i think the term is very understandable and fitting. everyone knows what kamikaze planes were, so when they hear the term 'kamikaze drone' they know it must be about a drone sacrificing itself through a planned, destructive collision. i actually disagree more with your suggestion of calling them 'cruise missiles', as that's an actual current-day term which is actively being used to describe weapons in current conflicts. they're self-navigation missiles cruising to their target. most of the 'kamikaze drones' we see in ukraine are being flown by humans, the only reason the operator doesn't die is because they're controlling it remotely/virtually. i get what you mean, however i don't understand why it bothers you so much. lots of terms and words we use are not 100% accurate but understandable because of a shared context.
• npteljes 2y ago
  Not just the headline unfortunately. Doping now means cheating basically - Meriam-Webster documents it as using "or technique to illegally improve athletic performance". I hate it how we do this to language as well, but this is the nature of culture, it cannot really be mandated, it will just change as people see fit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_doping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_doping https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doping https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doping
  • somat 2y ago
    I keep getting hung up on semiconductor doping which none of the online dictionaries I tried acknowledge as a form of the phrase. But I guess it fits "to introduce impurities into the system to improve performance" The etymology of the word is telling, apparently it comes from the dutch word for sauce. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=doping https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=doping