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Why are we so keen on redefining words? I'm genuinely curious about this. Is it political correctness? If not, what is it? "Stupid" is pretty much defined as t
by CodeMage 11y ago
Why are we so keen on redefining words? I'm genuinely curious about this. Is it political correctness? If not, what is it?
"Stupid" is pretty much defined as the opposite of "smart". You might be thinking of "unwise" or "ignorant" or "inexperienced". Or maybe you're thinking of "untalented" or "incompetent". None of those are "stupid" and their opposites aren't "smart".
For example, I'm good at programming, I have a good ear for music and I absolutely suck at drawing. None of that necessarily makes me smart or stupid. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure people wouldn't call me "stupid at drawing".
"Smart" and "stupid" are measures of a characteristic, just like "tall" and "short".
- sliverstorm 11y agoYou've never met someone with a stunningly sharp technical mind, but the social intelligence of a gnat?
- CodeMage 11y agoPlenty of times. Heck, I used to be a lot closer to that end of the spectrum than I am now. That's how I know that there are plenty of words to describe that, because I've been called a number of them ;)
- Cookingboy 11y agoI have, and I'd call that person smart. He could be unobservant, insensitive, socially awkward and all nine yards but he's still smart.
- sliverstorm 11y agoColloquially that person would probably be called smart, but their (social) actions might be described as stupid. A smart person can be prone to doing stupid things.
- irishcoffee 11y agoA smart person can do stupid things, and a stupid person can do smart things. This does not disprove GP's point. Rather, you seem to agree.
- pekk 11y agoIt's not political correctness. It's observing that often people who are smart and do smart things also do very stupid things. There is not one personality trait which means to do more smart things and fewer stupid things at the same time. That is the idea.
- Arnt 11y agoI think we do that because old words don't really fit in a new area, and there are always new areas. Look at the OED's historical definitions for any of the common verbs, IIRC "take" is a fine example. Specifically: I'm smart but I do stupid things every day. Fixing one's own stupid mistakes is half of what smart programmers do... perhaps "egoless" rather than "smart" is the proper opposite of "stupid" as far as programmers go.
- mannykannot 11y agoIt is pretty obvious that beat merely meant 'mutually exclusive' when he wrote 'opposites'. There is no politically correct conspiracy here.