this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
-31 points (26.2% liked)
Showerthoughts
28953 readers
987 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Because they're effective synonyms in common usage. All kinds of jargon get used outside of the original field.
In general, we all learn words piecemeal. You have to encounter a word to know it exists. The more specific and/or niche a word is, the less likely you are to run into it. Even after you do, you still have to find a definition. If that definition is simplified, or doesn't come with links to more information than a solid definition, that's what the person knows, and they can't know any other usage until and unless they encounter that too.
Now, that ignores the raw fact that language shifts as long as it is being spoken. Dictionaries follow language changes, and aren't really good at preventing shifts because they only contain partial information.
Symbiosis isn't going to have a full explanation of everything it entails in a general dictionary (though it might in field specific ones the way things like medical terminology have). It'll have a basic definition and some variants. If you want explant, you go to encyclopedias for basics, then to field specific texts/instructions if you want more depth.
As you anyway already said in a fairly compact comment, symbiosis contains within its definition other words. And you even gave a simplified definition of those. Now, anyone finding those words through this post will know that there are multiple "types" of symbiosis. But it is never the default to know things.
Ignorance is the default. We're born ignorant of almost everything. We die less ignorant than we started, though exactly how much less varies.
That's the reason people use the word in the colloquial sense; that's all they've encountered. As long as you don't act like a dick about it, most people will appreciate the kind of simple expansion you gave in your comments, and you can help people expand their knowledge. But you gotta remember that your pet peeves are meaningless to anyone else, just like theirs are to you. Come at it from friendly, kind frame of mind, and it'll work out best.
LOL! 99% of people absolutely do not look up a new word when they hear it. If the listener thinks it makes the speaker sound smart then they get a vague idea of the meaning from context and then start using it – often in the wrong context. All the dummies of the world repeat this process and it spreads like a virus.
And thus, another word with a very specific meaning gets turned into another broad-meaning synonym. If don’t believe me I’ll caveat all over your nuances until you verbiage.
Much like you and the comment you replied to, people DO "find a definition" without looking it up. They use context to assign a definition. They may end up inferring a completely different definition than anything you've heard, but they have defined it in some way.
You offer an interesting vintage, but I’m going to have to resonate with you. Your ideas are just too methodology.
Perhaps you could offer your own vintage, so that we may come to a dissonance.
Oh, I'm not saying it's right, but that's what happens.
Lmao. Don't you threaten me with a good time! I will verbiage allll over your semantics.