Comment on How does this pic show that Elon Musk doesnt know SQL?
bitchkat@lemmy.world 6 days agoHe literally writes “This retard thinks the government uses SQL.”
That is all you need. He’s not saying “This retard thinks the SSA uses SQL”. He is saying “the government” which means all of it. Saying someone is a retard because they think the government uses SQL means Elon doesn’t think they do because we all know he doesn’t consider himself a retard.
You are looking for ambiguity where there is none.
lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 6 days ago
Nah, you’re ignoring context. Context matters. I’ll show.
Can SSA not be called “the government”?
Which government? The Brazilian government? Your state government? Your local government? No? How do you know? That’s right: context.
By why stop there? There’s more context: a Social Security database was specifically mentioned.
Does “the government” always mean all of it? When a federal agent knocks someone’s door & someone gripes “The goddamn government is after me!” do they literally mean the entire government? I know from context I or anyone else can informally refer to any part of the government at any level as “the government”. I think you know this.
Likewise, when people refer to the ocean or the sky or the people, they don’t necessarily mean all of it or all of them.
Another way to check meaning is to test whether a proposition still makes sense when something obvious unstated is explicitly written out.
Still make sense? Yes. Could that be understood from context without explicitly writing it out? Yes.
To refrain: