Comment on This is America

• FelixCress@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Definitions come from how people use words, not the other way around.

  That’s how Trump can get away with his lies in the USA.

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  • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Deceptive people can use words however they want!

    So can you or I. At least a quarter billion people say “America” and mean “United States of America” every day, and at least a quarter billion people hear them say it and understand what they mean. Therefore, the meaning of that word has skewed.

    If you picture an “American” in your mind I know damn well the first thing that pops into your head is not a resident of Brazil, and that is what language is actually about. Moving ideas, not definitions.

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    • FelixCress@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Keep dreaming, USian.

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      • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Appeal to Authority

        Actual research

        I promise your random Mastodon screenshot is not as definitive as millennia of language evolution. Also, you’re assuming I’m american when I could damn well be a European etymologist for all you know

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