memes

Narcissistic personality disorder... Coming from a guy who called me stupid with a ;)

Morphology in language is a very interesting thing. There are colloquialisms, slang terms, languages within languages, and dialects that can exist across relatively small geographical areas. I say “unsweet” isn't a word, nor is it a shortening of the word “unsweetened,” and yet I can find all kinds of information supporting that statement while simultaneously finding information that contradicts it.

Eventually, we're left with the technical aspect of the argument. “Unsweet” is a word, and it can be used definitionally to mean something in much the same way that “funner” can, which, incidentally, is now also a word. Language is constantly evolving, and words become words through usage and convention.

Nevertheless, we have collectively agreed, through something resembling a social contract, that certain words mean certain things. The construction and evolution of language have a scientific basis that we can study and describe because, otherwise, nobody would be able to communicate with anyone else and make any sense.

Languages change over time. People use words, those words acquire meanings, and eventually those meanings become accepted. “Unsweet,” regardless of how commonly it is used, is not technically or figuratively a shortening of “unsweetened.” They are morphologically different constructions. The fact that people use the word is relevant to whether it is a word; it is not relevant to whether it is a shortened form of another word.

You think I have narcissistic personality disorder? Fine. Feel free to think that. You probably think you're well-rounded and appropriately rational about whatever life throws at you. You probably also think you're above all of this and that you've simply wandered into an argument with some wacko in a Lemmy comment thread.

And by all accounts, perhaps you are.

But so far, absolutely nobody has remotely engaged with me on this particular subject without sounding like a pompous jackass. And I've learned that people generally don't like being treated the way they treat other people, regardless of what that treatment is. So, yes, sometimes I do it anyway, because apparently that's the only language some people understand.

If someone actually wanted to engage with me substantively about the distinction between “unsweet” and “unsweetened,” that would be one thing. Especially considering the actual post we're commenting under, which apparently has quite a few upvotes and people seem to like.

Go figure.