Our brain

[quickquestion]

By that metric, hieroglyphics are still in use because books are still printed and read about them. That's clearly ridiculous. You've set the bar so low that's it's trivially easy to cross and without utility.

People don't read heiro's for entertainment. Nor do people do plays talking in heiro's, and they don't jest with their friends in heiro-speak.

[iNow]

You've only further muddied your criteria. The threshold remains ambiguous despite your additional reply.

[Delta1212]

They don't do any of those things in Chaucer's English, either. Outside of maybe a few experts and devotees of the field, but the exact same thing could be said about hieroglyphics.

[quickquestion]

You've only further muddied your criteria. The threshold remains ambiguous despite your additional reply.

I already admitted it was mudded. There are several stem-terms that don't fit and could be made better, but due to acadamia and tradition noone is usually allowed to challenge these words in a classroom.

What these words are I don't remember, I just remember encountering them at various points in my life.

[Strange]

But shakespeare books are still printed and read, thus the words are still in use.

 

 

They are not in use in contemporary English.

People don't read heiro's for entertainment.

 

So what. Or are you just moving the goalposts because it is clear you are talking nonsense.

 

 

 

Nor do people do plays talking in heiro's, and they don't jest with their friends in heiro-speak.

 

You can't speak in hieroglyphs; it is writing system.

What these words are I don't remember, I just remember encountering them at various points in my life.

 

That is a very convincing argument.

[quickquestion]

 

 

They are not in use in contemporary English.

 

So what. Or are you just moving the goalposts because it is clear you are talking nonsense.

 

 

You can't speak in hieroglyphs; it is writing system.

 

That is a very convincing argument.

I will give you one example: Gas and Gasoline. Engineers say "Fill up the Gas tank" when Gasoline is a liquid and not a gas. Gasoline is eventually converted into a gas, but it is misleading to call it gas directly.

 

And yeah, my memory is not the greatest. I thought of more examples the other day. There are plenty of misleading stem terms, in the same ilk as Gas and gas.

[Bender]

Confusing: yes. Misleading: no.

 

It is not that nobody wants to change them, it is not easy to change it everywhere and the old word is going to keep showing up anyway, so the end result is having more words to describe the same thing.

 

And a word is just a convention after all. It is pretty pointless to challenge it. Much like the fact that using tau makes much more sense than using pi. I think most scientists would agree, but everybody is used to pi and a factor two is no big deal anyway.

 

About your example: I don't think that "gas" is a good example of a STEM-word that "academia" is very protective about.

[CharonY]

I would argue (and maybe someone else has argued that already, if so, my apologies, I was dizzy from all those rapdily moving goalposts) that in science discipline-specific lingo arises due to the desire to communicate effectively and to avoid confusion. Though for those not familiar with the literature it may seem confusing.

 

The basis of this is probably the same in every area of specialization, including outside science. Just go to a hardware shop and ask for the thingy that does fasten the other thingy. Nope, a bit larger. How is it called again? Most take cues from context, obviously.

Edited April 25, 2017 by CharonY

[Strange]

I will give you one example: Gas and Gasoline. Engineers say "Fill up the Gas tank" when Gasoline is a liquid and not a gas. Gasoline is eventually converted into a gas, but it is misleading to call it gas directly.

 

 

Words can have more than one meaning, you know.

 

Gas can mean an "air-like fluid" or "a shorthand term for gasoline" or "to chase" or ...

 

People have invented a new word ("gas") because they needed something shorter than the rather long-winded gasoline. (Why they couldn't just call it petrol, like the rest of us, I don't know.)

[quickquestion]

 

 

Words can have more than one meaning, you know.

 

Gas can mean an "air-like fluid" or "a shorthand term for gasoline" or "to chase" or ...

 

People have invented a new word ("gas") because they needed something shorter than the rather long-winded gasoline. (Why they couldn't just call it petrol, like the rest of us, I don't know.)

I think calling it petrol is a good idea.

[Delta1212]

 

 

Words can have more than one meaning, you know.

 

Gas can mean an "air-like fluid" or "a shorthand term for gasoline" or "to chase" or ...

 

People have invented a new word ("gas") because they needed something shorter than the rather long-winded gasoline. (Why they couldn't just call it petrol, like the rest of us, I don't know.)

Why be so opaque and not just call it rock oil?

[Strange]

I think calling it petrol is a good idea.

 

 

Of course, petrol is short for petroleum. So exactly analogous the formation of the word gas.

[Velocity_Boy]

Speaking of how language is continually evolving and expanding, here's a cool little link that shows you over a dozen words that are now commonly used but we're unheard of a mere two decades ago.

 

 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/14-common-words-that-didnt-exist-20-years-ago-1455971367