What English expression do you hate the most?

[bobzmyunkle]

'Misogyny'. When I started to hear this word I looked up its meaning. It meant a hatred of women. But people kept using it as a trendier word for sexism, because they hadn't looked it up in the dictionary. The thing is one can be a male, chauvinist pig and still not actually hate women. Most men in history have held views that could be considered sexist, but that does not mean they actually hated women. So, what should I think the word means now: the meaning I looked up in the dictionary, or what I think other people think it means?

Well here's a the merriam-webster definition.
: hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women
And Cambridge
feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women

Others are similar.

Maybe the definition's become a bit broader or you just remembered the first bit.

 

[Jameshow]

'Misogyny'. When I started to hear this word I looked up its meaning. It meant a hatred of women. But people kept using it as a trendier word for sexism, because they hadn't looked it up in the dictionary. The thing is one can be a male, chauvinist pig and still not actually hate women. Most men in history have held views that could be considered sexist, but that does not mean they actually hated women. So, what should I think the word means now: the meaning I looked up in the dictionary, or what I think other people think it means?

Yet women can say awful things about men...

A client picked up a couple of novels in a local community centre cafe which had plots about murdering men I kid you not...

Had they been SM posts the writers should have been in trouble!!! 🤔

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Yet women can say awful things about men...

A client picked up a couple of novels in a local community centre cafe which had plots about murdering men I kid you not...

Had they been SM posts the writers should have been in trouble!!! 🤔

There have been cases where that has been true

but I have noticed a lot of people doing that getting called out for it recently
I think it is changing and becoming less acceptable

I remember calling a teacher out for it when I worked in a girl's school and the whole staff room being startled into silence until I pointed out that she had just something that would be unacceptable if I said it about women

 

[Yellow Fang]

Well here's a the merriam-webster definition.
: hatred of, aversion to, or prejudice against women
And Cambridge
feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women

Others are similar.

Maybe the definition's become a bit broader or you just remembered the first bit.

The definition has broadened to reflect how the word is now used.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The definition has broadened to reflect how the word is now used.

That's how language works. Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive.

 

[Yellow Fang]

'Begs the question'. Apparently it is used incorrectly most the time. Usually it is used in the sense of 'raises the question,' but it is not that at all. It is a type of logical fallacy or circular argument. For example the statement, 'Private education should be banned because it is inconsistent with equality of opportunity for all children.' That takes for granted that the principle of equality of opportunity for all children is a given. Parents who want to send their children to private school want to give their children an advantage in life and think they have the right to do so. So begging the question makes an assumption about the point under dispute, but not in an obvious way. I think that's an example. The example I read in the book that explained it was a university had banned a religious protest against abortion, because it was important to be tolerant of different opinions. That begged the question, because these religious people found abortion intolerable. It would be like Aztecs telling Catholic priests to respect their cultural traditions in respect to human sacrifice. The problem with that explanation is that it is not obvious that is what 'begs the question' means. It would seem to mean the same as 'raises the obvious question'. So they should use another phrase for the circular argument thing.

 

[Andy in Germany]

There have been cases where that has been true

but I have noticed a lot of people doing that getting called out for it recently
I think it is changing and becoming less acceptable

I remember calling a teacher out for it when I worked in a girl's school and the whole staff room being startled into silence until I pointed out that she had just something that would be unacceptable if I said it about women

Yet women can say awful things about men...

A client picked up a couple of novels in a local community centre cafe which had plots about murdering men I kid you not...

Had they been SM posts the writers should have been in trouble!!! 🤔

On that subject, some of the entries in the Cartoons and jokes threads wouldn't pass the "reverse genders" test.

I think it is changing, slowly, in the face of some fierce opposition. I also notice the word "misandry" being used more often.

 

[Alex321]

Yet women can say awful things about men...

That is called Misandry

A client picked up a couple of novels in a local community centre cafe which had plots about murdering men I kid you not...

And? There are MANY books out there with plots about murdering women.

Had they been SM posts the writers should have been in trouble!!! 🤔

Why?

 

[Yellow Fang]

That's how language works. Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Odd, the meanings are not prescriptive, but the spellings are.

 

[yello]

Odd, the meanings are not prescriptive, but the spellings are.

Oh, I'd argue that the spellings are descriptive too. But then I'm a contrary old sod at the best of times.

 

[Alex321]

Odd, the meanings are not prescriptive, but the spellings are.

Not really. Most dictionaries list alternate spellings for quite a few words.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not really. Most dictionaries list alternate spellings for quite a few words.

There was a general knowledge crossword I used to do with my mother in her later years where the clues were often suffixed "alt sp" (alternate spelling). We used to reckon that the setter had just made up some of these alternatives and they should really be suffixed "Splt wrng"

 

[Yellow Fang]

I don't like the term 'passed' when they mean 'died'. The term used to be 'passed on'. I think people started to say 'passed' because 'died' can cause strong emotions. People didn't want to say it so they started using 'passed' as a euphemism. Well, death is a ghastly thing, so a horrible word is apt.

 

[Drago]

I don't like the term 'passed' when they mean 'died'. The term used to be 'passed on'. I think people started to say 'passed' because 'died' can cause strong emotions. People didn't want to say it so they started using 'passed' as a euphemism. Well, death is a ghastly thing, so a horrible word is apt.

In my case it will probably mean "passed wind, then died."

 

[lazybloke]

I don't like the term 'passed' when they mean 'died'. The term used to be 'passed on'. I think people started to say 'passed' because 'died' can cause strong emotions. People didn't want to say it so they started using 'passed' as a euphemism. Well, death is a ghastly thing, so a horrible word is apt.

My father-in-law sometimes has a weird turn of phrase.
27 or so years ago, when his wife was in a hospice with terminal cancer, her condition varied quite dramatically from visit to visit. One day she could be quite alert, the next, completely out of it. So the first question to him would usually be "how was she today?".

It was a bit alarming when one day he said she was "passing".
To him, that meant no different from the previous day!