• Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    The word theory has become (or at best is becoming) a clusterfuck of whatever, much like the word literally.

    And we don’t even have (normal/easy/exact) replacements for those words.
    Those words were already the scientific terms for nerds. But normies normied them into normedom, literally theorised into a fuck.

    (Also unfortunately Im a normie, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bitch about it)

  • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Descriptive linguists unite! Words evolve and that’s okay. Really science should pivot away and start calling more proven theories a different word if they’re upset about the confusion.

    The etymology of the word theory comes from a word with a meaning closer to “to look at or speculate” so even in that sense science kind of hijacked a word that was further from the modern scientific understanding of the word “theory” and descriptively transformed it themselves for use in their community. And that’s okay too.

    • tehmics@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’ve ranted about this so much to people close to me. Scientific community just needs to adopt a new word like you say, theory is a lost battle

    • dogsoahC@lemm.eeOP
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      1 month ago

      I accept it in colloquial discourse. I’m not happy about it, and I will smartass at everyone who isn’t asking, but I accept that I’m probably fighting a losing battle. But in science, it’s absolutely non-negotiable for words to mean what they mean, and not their own opposite.

      • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Tell that to conventional current vs electron flow. Science is ever updating with new information and the words we use to describe it will change over time as well, but I get what you mean. Prescriptive linguistics especially in formal settings like scientific writing is helpful for clear communication.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        1 month ago

        Various fields have to adapt their terms all the time. For example, “idiot”, “moron”, and “mental retardation” were all official medical terms. Then they got used as an insult by the population at large, and got so bad that the medical field had to abandon them.

        • dogsoahC@lemm.eeOP
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          1 month ago

          Medical terms being used as an insult is a very specific (and problematic) case. And they also weren’t turned into their own opposite. They were equalized with stupidity.

  • Matriks404@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    While theory and hypothesis are not the same if you are talking about science, in general everyday use theory is used as a synonym.

    In wiktionary: 5. A hypothesis or conjecture. [from 18th c.]

    • Kanda@reddthat.com
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      1 month ago

      But I’m a wannabe scientist, don’t come here with your colloquial language explanations

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    I suggest we use new words.

    Hypothesis - the great pondering
    Theory - mystical workings of the orb

    • Victor@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Just a joke. It’s just a way to set up the joke. It doesn’t make sense, practically, but it isn’t supposed to be part of the funny bit. Or it is… It could be, in an ironic way.

      🤷‍♂️ Take it with a pinch of salt.

    • LANIK2000@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      And then say “it’s just a theory” to completely dismiss something they don’t like.

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I conject deez nuts aren’t nuts.

      I hypothesise deez nuts will break apart entirely differently in a nutcracker to confirm this.

      tests in nutcracker

      I put forward the theory that deez nuts are a man’s testicles.