Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
'Patriot' vs. 'traitor,' 'yes' vs. 'no': Are dictionary sites trolling tRump?
In case you were wondering, the definition of a patriot is “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion,” and a traitor is “a person who commits treason by betraying his or her country.” That is courtesy of Dictionary.com, which tweeted those definitions on the morning of July 16 — shortly after President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, and a day before former CIA Director John Brennan described Trump’s behavior as “nothing short of treasonous.”
<snip>
...It’s also true that when a public figure uses language in a remarkable way, it’s fair game for us to comment on the language use without that being political.”
Stamper said that dictionaries are not influencers of culture. Rather, they respond to what’s happening in the world of words. And now, with social media, they have the chance to do so more swiftly than ever before.
“Every word we choose to use tells the people listening to us something about us,” Sliter said. “The words we choose to use are shaped by who we are. So I think we have this responsibility of holding people accountable by saying, ‘You know what? The word you used has a very specific meaning; it’s written right here. We can point to that as fact.’” - Yahoo News
<snip>
...It’s also true that when a public figure uses language in a remarkable way, it’s fair game for us to comment on the language use without that being political.”
Stamper said that dictionaries are not influencers of culture. Rather, they respond to what’s happening in the world of words. And now, with social media, they have the chance to do so more swiftly than ever before.
“Every word we choose to use tells the people listening to us something about us,” Sliter said. “The words we choose to use are shaped by who we are. So I think we have this responsibility of holding people accountable by saying, ‘You know what? The word you used has a very specific meaning; it’s written right here. We can point to that as fact.’” - Yahoo News
Link left out intentionally, b/c Yahoo is 99% Conservative news, like Fox. But I was compelled to post this excerpt due to the fact that all propositions in speech depend on the meaning of words, words that have a set meaning.
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
