this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

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#notaseagull (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

What if I told you that words can have different meanings in different contexts? Just because the same word can be used to refer to different things depending on whether its used in everyday or scientific speech doesn't mean either usage is "wrong".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Context specific definitions are the bane of my autistic existence. Figuring out context is a waste of brainpower that could be better used having anxiety over situations that aren't going to happen.

/Completely serious, but not quite as strongly as worded here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

So I take it no one should mention that in astrophysics anything heavier than helium is a metal

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah well, people aren't computers and language always has multiple levels of ambiguity. I understand if that is difficult to grasp if you can't understand it on an intuitive level like most people. On the other hand it's not that hard to understand on an intellectual level.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Doesn't change that it was a bad idea to borrow a generic term for small sweet fruits to refer to a specific botanical feature. Not just bad, but completely unnecessary and frankly, simply, a bit stupid.