• zqps@sh.itjust.works
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    10 days ago

    In a dictionary a word can have more than one meaning and context matters.

    Precisely. Which is why you can make the case why the distinction is important to you, and why other people should care about and respect the more specific definition.

    But you didn’t make that case. You took the position that there’s exactly one valid definition and the other person was factually, self-evidently wrong, and needed not to be convinced but to be condescendingly corrected. That is not conducive to your goal of conveying your position, it doesn’t represent the community position well to outsiders, and it rubs me the wrong way simply because it’s self-absorbed and extremely rude. Hence my sarcastic initial reply.

    If you seek a discussion that others can meaningfully engage with, purely out of self-interest you need to be able to center other people’s perspective, not talk down to them about how they could be so obviously wrong and stupid.

    Being perceived as less of a total ass is just a bonus.