What word do you wish people used with more care and precision?

[Lensing]

persecution / oppression

I read this a lot and I also read some really disrespectful holocaust comparisons
in the last 2 years

[melissatowner]

"Sorry". A lot of people don't really mean it while apologizing.

[DiegoPalacios]

this.....so much.......those cheap comparisons only trivialize the holocaust

[surenlicious]

Cancel culture. It sickens me how especially non-black people have twisted that shit around to something it's entirely not.

[ar-ninetysix]

...what?

Non-black people?? Twisted meaning??? I wasn't aware that this phrase had its roots in black culture And that's been one of my favorite phrases I've been using this year.. like "ahhh twitter's gonna cancel you" or whatever.

So, what did it originally mean then?

[Breezy]

I know someone already talked about mental health, but I would just like to generalize this to overuse and misuse of all neurological diseases. Words like "OCD", "autistic", "Alzheimer's", "migraine", "psychopath", "Tourette's", and other terms are often used to describe individuals who do not have those conditions.

Misdiagnosis is, unfortunately, a common occurrence even in real life. Physicians who have spent eight years of their lives in school, working 80+ hours a week to learn how to diagnose neurological disorders are subject to misdiagnosis. Unfortunately, misdiagnosis and misinformation has perpetuated stigmas surrounding these disorders and caused real harm to real people who have them. If we, as authors, allow our media to be filled with even more misrepresentation, we are perpetuating those harmful stereotypes.

OCD doesn't mean someone who is clean.
Autistic doesn't mean someone who is socially awkward.
Alzheimer's doesn't mean any elderly person with memory impairment.
Tourette's doesn't mean someone who curses a lot.
Psychopath doesn't mean a mass murderer.
And, most close to my heart because of my career choices, migraine doesn't mean a bad headache.

Thanks for reading my rant.

[fleurravenbooks]

i was shocked, if i had acc i would of said something, good thing is that majority didn't agree with commenter

@DiegoPalacios same, i can't imagine what is going on in someone's head to say that child getting hugs is spoiling them

@Kann i think that they just don't want to show affection, if they weren't hugged as a child they should know it makes child sad

[fleurravenbooks]

100% agree with you, saying that ocd (for example) is just being clean and/or grammar freak is making fun of people that suffer with ocd every single day

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

"Decimated" - It doesn't mean "almost completely destroyed" it means 10% destroyed. The clue is in the freaking name!

I'ma be honest. Never thought about the root word in it but now it makes so much sense. As for speed paint, that's a really good point!

To take something with a grain of salt is to not take something too seriously or is something to be skeptical about it, because the grain is small.

Hmm... For me, if something is taken "with a grain of salt", it sounds a lot like "doubt this a little bit, but not a whole lot, because it's only a grain of salt". But if someone says "biggest grain of salt", while it's a bit of an oxymoron (?) as a grain cannot be bigger than it is, it sounds a lot more like "Take this with a lot of doubt, not just a little bit. It's basically just a rumor." However, at that point it does sound like one should just reword it.

If you say "apocalypse." everyone will understand what you mean, so it's fine to use it that way in everyday conversation. But, in a theological/biblical sense, apocalypse just means divine revelation. I think what happened is that people mostly think of the apocalypse of John (another name for Revelation), which talks about the end of the world. The correct term for end of the world is "eschaton."

I never knew this, how interesting!

'Entitled'.

Wanting things is not entitled. Asking for things isn't entitled. Even if the thing is something outrageous.

Only when you won't take 'no' for an answer, ONLY THEN are you being entitled.

This I always found confusing. Maybe I don't understand the use of the word that well, but it always felt as though when someone is criticizing how someone is being "entitled", rather than saying, "They are so entitled" it sounds like it should be "They have such a sense of entitlement" or "They have a false sense of entitlement". If someone is entitled, then...doesn't that technically mean they're actually entitled to something, and that is something that they are due? It always seemed like that to me, but that it's been boiled down to one word because of our tendency to shorten everything so it takes less words to say.

@Breezy This is a big one. There's many who will jokingly say something they've done is their "OCD" or something along those lines. And it's really weird, because it seems like one has to have some idea of how these things are serious, because it's only through using those terms to be dramatic or to exaggerate is what makes it "funny". At the same time, it belittles the problems, for one second of amusement.

[TheLemmaLlama]

This I always found confusing. Maybe I don't understand the use of the word that well, but it always felt as though when someone is criticizing how someone is being "entitled", rather than saying, "They are so entitled" it sounds like it should be "They have such a sense of entitlement" or "They have a false sense of entitlement". If someone is entitled, then...doesn't that technically mean they're actually entitled to something, and that is something that they are due? It always seemed like that to me, but that it's been boiled down to one word because of our tendency to shorten everything so it takes less words to say.

Haha yeah, people do use that word in those different senses! From what I understand, if you specify the thing a person is entitled to (e.g. "[person] is entitled to X"), it means the person actually has the right to have X, whereas if they say "[person] feels entitled to X", then it's just commenting on the person's sense of entitlement. And "[person] is entitled" (without specifying any object of entitlement) is shorthand for the latter, or a comment on the person's character trait of having a sense of entitlement towards too many things o_o

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

From what I understand, if you specify the thing a person is entitled to (e.g. "[person] is entitled to X"), it means the person actually has the right to have X, whereas if they say "[person] feels entitled to X", then it's just commenting on the person's sense of entitlement. And "[person] is entitled" (without specifying any object of entitlement) is shorthand for the latter, or a comment on the person's character trait of having a sense of entitlement towards too many things o_o

This actually makes a bit more sense now. Funny how a couple words can change it so much. Thanks

[Tired_Spider]

I'm about to throw a curve ball and maybe get a little political, but this really does my head in.

Now I don't really have social media and I know it is kinda too late for these words to be used properly but when people just throw words like racist, sexist, something phobic, and so on. Like I could be doing something and they will just use those words so quickly without actually using its meaning.

Didn't like a coloured character cause of bad writing - You're a racist

I say what a girl is doing is stupid - You're sexist

It does my head in cause when somebody actually does be one of those words my first response isn't "Oh I should see what has happened," or "Wow that person's a jerk,". Now it is "Were they really though," or "Ah that person must've been over dramatic", the words have lost their value cause of how many times it did turn out to be false or an overdramatic response. And like I said now it comes to the point that when something bad actually does happen it gets ignored or overshadowed by people who are just using the words for no reason.

But people still use it cause they don't have a real argument and just want a quick win, cause if you use those words people will see that person being called a homophobe or a misogynist as a bad person, especially during these times where everything has to be labelled. It's come to the point where I get called it and I won't even try to defend myself about that point and just keep talking about what I was saying before.

[GumshoeComix]

Toxic, My therapist actually told our group to avoid that word and saying that word about others. because the same reason We're in group they probably need help and see us as the toxic ones - therefore toxic is a "toxic word, creating a fake villain so you dont have to face your problems

Triggered-
I have a hard time even saying it in a therapeutic setting now because of how much people have ruined that word
there are synonyms thankfully, like dorsal state
and if i can tell the difference anxiety attack and ptsd episode
but I cant say the word triggered anymore because of peoples constant misuse.

Privileged-
here's where i thank god that I quit social media cause I've been called privileged before
and like bro you dont even know me, the only privileged people are in the government

[DiegoPalacios]

People that are quick to throw accusations are quick to slandering others........

It annoys me when people rely on such cheap ad-hominems to attempt to win a discussion.

Not only it is insulting, it's also manipulative and abusive behavior. Instead of attempting to guilt trip with a not so veiled threat of slandering, they should learn to give better arguments.

[Tired_Spider]

Right, but of course it is important to be progressive and woke then looking at the facts

[sushy00]

oh yeah and this happens with depression too.

[system]

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