Quote:
|
Originally Posted by analog
Firstly, you are saying that since child porn is a type of porn, that saying a person is guilty of "porn" is the same thing since it's a "subcategory". That's flawed logic to a point I can't measure.
|
Nope, I said no such thing. I said that since child porn is a subcategory of porn, to use the latter is accurate. I did not say that they are the same thing. If B is a subcategory of A, then it is accurate to substitute A for B, though the meaning won't be quite as specific. "Dress" is a subcategory of "clothes". If I'm wearing a dress, and I say, "I'm wearing clothes," that is also true. To say that someone who has been accused/convicted of a child porn crime has been convicted of a porn crime is accurate, if less specific. The text of the story would then specify the particular kind of porn crime.
Quote:
|
The pervasive misuse of "hacker" has nothing to do with any of that. Incorrectly using "hacker" when you mean "cracker" is due to a lack of education on the matter.
|
Pervasive use of language in a manner that is different from its original meaning does stem from a lack of education, true. It also tends to alter the meaning in general usage to whatever the majority usage is. In general usage, "ultimate" has come to mean "greatest" rather than "last". "Decimate" has come to mean "great destruction" rather than "destruction of 1/10th".
Quote:
|
I, like many others in this thread, gave up a long time ago on this cause... but to say that it's language fluidity, evolution, or anything other than misuse due to lack of knowledge, is foolish and incorrect.
|
You say that as if the two are mutually exclusive. Language often evolves precisely because of misuse due to lack of knowledge. This is why it's now possible to "loan" someone money. The word originally functioned solely as the noun form of "lend", but evolved a verb usage as a result of misuse due to lack of knowledge. "Media" "data" and "agenda" are now used with singular verbs as a result of misuse due to lack of knowledge.