I am trying to think of a word for evolution that doesn't have the baggage that leads to so much misunderstanding.
What would be a word for astronomical, geological, biological and chemical changes over millions of years?
posted by wot53
over 2 years ago
To immediately go galloping off on a tangent, and only address part of your post, MisterS., I must take issue with the discussion about glub. The word 'soul' comes laden with all kinds of connotation, both public and private. The word 'glub' has no connotation other than it is a nonsense word offered as a substitute. Therefore, I submit that no meaningful discussion about a glub can take place, while we can discuss a soul into infinity and eternally.
If we have missing words, would we know they are missing?
And although you think your response of menopause is just terribly cute, I think it is, in fact, terribly offensive.
I'm with Marti. I find your smart alec tongue in cheek post and menopause crack insulting. Maybe one of these days you will be able to think deeply on some subject or other, too.
"Unlimiting" is not a genuine English word. Try a thesaurus for 'freeing', antithesis to 'binding', 'constructing.' A thesaurus is a book that gives synonyms for words (that means words that are similar, have similar meaning, sometimes different shades of meanings but essentially the same meaning). They also have opposite words, too. So you can look up "binding, constructing, confining" and find an opposite word rather than make one up, "unlimiting." That is not an English word. If you are going to play with the language it would seem at least your post should be grammatically correct.
The word Love springs to my mind.
The word love is over used. Love means different things to different people.
Sometimes we say love but we mean infatuation or lust or a deep friendship.
I suggest we replace love with other words we really mean.
I like "unlimiting" MisterScience.
I once actually read my dictionary's "Guide to the Dictionary" section. I was surprised to learn English permits us to invent our own words. Why didn't any of my teachers share this with me sooner? It sure made parenting more fun.
I did not know 'negative reinforcement' refers to the absence of something from the subject's environment and not the 'addition' of something having a negative connotation. This is huge if you're into behavior modification. Thank you for sharing this MS. It perplexes me that 'adding a negative' to one's environment seems easier than 'depriving' one of attention in the first place. lol
posted by hooda
over 2 years ago
This post reminds me of what is often referred to as being or not being politically correct, At least in my view this has resulted in a softening of certain words/ phrases which can cause them to lose their intended impact.Interestingly the opposite is also true.
For example, I was recently having a conversation with a Military Officer who insisted on calling profit and loss, above or below plan. His reasoning for this was that the Department of Defense is a not for profit entity. After lengthy discussion we settled on Percent Performance to Plan, in his acronym heavy world he quickly dubbed that PPP. I'm not sure we gained anything there in terms of GAAP or Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles.
Commonground, I disagree mightily with you. Do you believe we have such a surplus of love in this life that we can afford to limit our use of the word 'love' in any way? I feel that we should encourage it, not limit it.
Adjectives help, somewhat ...
Such as for a word like "sensitive", we can alter the meaning with adjectives, like slightly, moderately, extremely.
For a word like love, we can alter the meaning with adjectives like maternal, fraternal, unconditional, eternal, puppy ...
Still ... the English language could use some additive reinforcement (more words).
