• TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      The reality of language is that people like op rely on the negative connotation of the definition I just gave.

      Imagine of they just said, “advocating for” instead. Wouldn’t have the same impact, right?

      • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
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        49 minutes ago

        Yup.

        You say that like it’s mutually exclusive. Nobody gets to choose how other people use language. Definitions are whatever people agree that they are, even if you’re not one of the people who agrees with it.
        You can dislike that definition of tankie all you want, the fact that they used it in this way and that you understood it means that it was used correctly.

        The evolution of language may hurt people, but denying the reality of evolving language hurts nobody but yourself. The etymology and history is good to know (and the meme relies on it), but the new definition is still a correct alternate definition.