Comment on Why is the US not considered a third world country?
bstix@feddit.dk 4 months ago
1.2. and 3. worlds are terms from the cold war.
Comment on Why is the US not considered a third world country?
bstix@feddit.dk 4 months ago
1.2. and 3. worlds are terms from the cold war.
Grimy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Languages evolve over time
bstix@feddit.dk 4 months ago
What definition and what dictionary?
Grimy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/third world
bstix@feddit.dk 4 months ago
USA doesn’t fit any of those definitions anyway.
I know what OP means, 3rd world is just not the right word.
USA is a banana republic
Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 4 months ago
Just because a lot of people use a phrase incorrectly doesn’t mean that it should be the accepted meaning.
A good example is “have your cake and eat it, too”. As the Unabomber famously fixated on, the phrase was originally “you can’t eat your cake and have it, too”. That saying actually makes sense and has meaning.
After a while people began to jokingly say it backwards, as “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too”. That was dandy, until people forgot that it was a joke. Now, years later, we’re all left with a saying that is fucking ridiculous sounding and but we keep saying it because we need the original phrase in our language.
Sure, language evolves and changes. Sometimes though, it’s a good idea to be sticklers about the rules.
sandalbucket@lemmy.world 4 months ago
It’s not rocket appliances
IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I guess I still go by the original definition. There are other words that offer more detail anyway - kakistocracy, gerontocracy, corporatocracy, kleptocracy, etc.
Grimy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Developing world would be the synonym for third world in the definition used by OP.
whotookkarl@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I agree language is descriptive and not prescriptive, but it sounds like comparing two categories developing vs developed may be more apt and not three like a 3 world model would entail.