Words that grind my gears                              rev 13 nov 2018 IST

AKA "I don't think that word means what you think it means."

Do words mean something?
  This week in the US a 13-year-old boy was shot in the back by police.
    The police report says he was a "young man" or a "suspect" and was 
      holding a "replica gun", "replica semi-automatic pistol".
    His family and friends say he was a "boy" and was holding a "toy gun".
    (The boy was also black, btw.)

  In US and China and elsewhere, a group action by people may be reported as
    a "riot", a "demonstration", an "uprising", a "gathering".

  When discussing access to academic research, people are downloading
    research from 
       "free alternative sites" and are "seekers of knowledge"
       or
       "illegal websites"       and are  "academic pirates"
    https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-complaint-shuts-down-sci-hub-domain-name-160504/

 Words matter.

 I believe that words mean something, and that different words mean different things.
 I also love words, love reading, love communicating with words.

 So since i am a selfish and self-centered animal, i get annoyed when
   i see words thrown around like so much garbage.
   Reeeeeeeely annoyed.

............................................................ 
The words:

  "artisanal"
      i mean -- c'mon. it's frickin cheese. Cheese used to be
      what poor people ate because they couldn't get anything else.
      Yay you put your hands on it instead of it being mass-produced
      through a machine. Well that's what the people who make
      your clothes and shoes and phones do all the time.

  "best" - as in
      "x is best"
      "x is better than y"
      this is meaningless without "what do you want to do?"
      More like:  "x works better for me than y [because | when] ..."
      well except vim of course. vim is the absolute best editor on the planet.

  "easy"
    web development is Hard!
    programming is Hard!
    If it was "easy" they wouldn't be paying me $140 an hour to do it.

    "fast, cheap, good - pick two."

    Here's where it's easy:
       1. "Sure it's easy. 
            Easy to do badly, hard to do well, 
            and impossible to do perfectly." 
       2. We do complicated and hard things on the Back End, 
          so that things will be easy to use on the Front End.


  "create"
      I think of "create" as making something out of nothing (like a god),
        or growing a really new thing out of what exists 
        (like the Buddha, or Prince, or Tim Berners-Lee )
      I don't know about you, but i only stand on the shoulders of giants,
        and in 20 years of building many many websites i haven't "created" one damn thing. 
        but lordy am i having a good time!

  "graphic"  also "explicit"
      when used to mean "sexual" or "violent"
      Just saw a news piece about brutal attack: "didn't show full video as 'too graphic'"
      it wasn't graphic. it was violent and bloody. all videos are "graphic".
      "graphic" just means visual.
      "explicit" just means clear.
      There are perfectly fine words already: 
         "violent", "horrific", "disgusting", 
         "luscious", "oooh baby", "so arousing you will be ripping your pants off'
       are these too "graphic" to say?

  "should"
      why?  "should" is meaningless without "if".

  "have to"
      why?  "have to" is meaningless without "if".

  "it doesn't work"
      um. in this life of samsara, nothing works, really! 
      Could i get just a teeny bit more information? and then
      maybe i could help.

  "it's too hard"
      if you're saying this, you're in the wrong field -- 
      drop it, now, and go find something that you love!

  "the website is finished"
      um. cough.
      intro-what_is_web-all_talks.html

  "web developer" for someone who doesn't know html, 
     text files, web server, searchability, maintainability.
     who concentrates on javascript and cute web tricks and "apps".
       (I finally realised that these days when most people are talking
        about "web development", they are really talking about "app development".
        that's great stuff, but another world. It's not Web.)
      
  "passionate"
      unless you are completely unaware of your surroundings and 
      are tearing off your clothes ... no. i don't believe you. 
      Seeing as how there are so many other words 
        to more truly describe your feelings, why be so lazy? 
        https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/passionate
      except me. i *am* passionate about vim. wanna watch? It's hot!  :D

  "vs"
      "web developers vs web designers"
      "web sites vs web apps"
      "vim vs emacs"
      just frickin useless. they are all great stuff. 
      It's useful and fun to compare them.
      but they are not enemies. c'mon.

  "war"
      what is it good for? absolutely nothing.


..............................
in all the above - "um" means i have so many things to say on that topic that 
  my cheeks are expanding like balloons.  steam is coming out of my ears.  
  i am frozen like a deer in the headlights. 
  advice for you: run away. now.


............................................................ 
Trying to find the right word for me and my ideas:

  reactionary

  luddite

  steampunk

  traditional

  back to basics

  recently found a folder i had made for older talks, named 'Old and irrelevant'
    oh maybe that's it


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written 25 april 2016 IST
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