Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumDictionaries are useless!!!!
This thing has reared it's dumb head again:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5237992
Remember...using a dictionary to define what words mean is...uh...racist I think.
I'm not sure because no one should use a dictionary so GAWD only knows what the words being typed there mean!
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)They are, in fact, a HUGE oversimplification when used to try to describe things like large sociological issues.
But, kvetch away if you must.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Y'think?
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)You'll have to define "they"
every dictionary?
even scientific ones?
Are definitions from academia supposed to be understood by everybody?
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)for example, the Urban Dictionary for anything other than bro-slang.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)This is of course very true.
LostOne4Ever
(9,267 posts)I have to agree its useless...especially its definition of atheist. But I don't want a rehash of the thread from the bash the atheists room, so I will leave it at that.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts).... is all I was advocating. And emotional tirade 101 took place.
(see...I looked up "tirade" to make sure I was using it correctly)
WhollyHeretic
(4,074 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)We had a similar thing here earlier re the word "atheist". (this was for the word "racist"
And the "dictionaries are useless" is the reducto ad absurdum implication.
Racism, like religion, is an emotional subject.... so, like religion, all logic flies out the window. Which was my point.
I find the parallels interesting.
and relevant.
or do we not discuss logic and skepticism here? (or human behavior?)
WhollyHeretic
(4,074 posts)considered logic.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Frantic?
What are you talking about?
Just like in that thread.... all this bizarre unfounded idea about how "upset" I am. Weird.
If I have to repeat myself over and over and try to reword or adjust things because it's like responders to my posts have read something else I didn't write, it's not "frantic". I'd say the complete inability to reply to a post like you actually read it looks a bit "frantic". I just try a few times and then give up. Like Barney Frank said....you can't argue with a coffee table.
WhollyHeretic
(4,074 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)What does this even mean?
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Miriam-Webster will give you a decent idea of what "racism" generally entails, but it won't give you much insight into the decades' worth of attention paid to the issue by, say, sociologists, psychologists, or political scientists. The best you're going to get from a dictionary in such situations is the definition of a word as it is used in common parlance; it is a good jumping-off point, but you're going to have to dig deeper for a more complete understanding of the term and its contextual usages.