I think it's funny when people use the dictionary like it's some perfectly unbiased and authoritative source, rather than a compilation of how people use words

[–] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Sometimes if you're going to have a conversation you need to agree on what a word means. If there's any ambiguity, I'm going to refer to the dictionary so we can continue our conversation, not whatever you or I decide a word means. The dictionary should be the common ground on which we speak when we disagree, because anything else is madness.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's useful, but more often than not, people tend to use the dictionary to shut down disagreement

[–] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 2 points 11 months ago

Depends on what the disagreement is. If the disagreement is purely due to two parties misunderstand each other as they're running on different definitions then it makes perfect sense. You can't have a discussion if you aren't discussing the same thing.

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago

You would pull out a dictionary instead of just asking them to clarify?