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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2024
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Unhoused? Has homeless as a word been banned?
Not sure about Canada, but in the US:
Homeless = no permanent residence, which also includes couch surfing, parents and children who just fled an abusive family member and are temporarily ltaying with friends or relatives, and people who are living in their car. All people without a home.
Unhoused = homeless people that don't have a roof over their heads. Might include living in a car.
They are synonyms. Please don't make things up.
Edit: to all the knee-jerk downvoting. This is literally a quote from an article the user himself supplied as proof that there is a difference.
It's literally just a pc synonym of homeless.
They are not. I work with data collections on students and have had to explain the difference to people who don't understand that a kid who is kicked out of their home and is staying with friends is homeless even if they are not out on the street for federal reporting.
Homelessness defined in law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/11302#
A more thorough explanation that contrasts the terms: https://invisiblepeople.tv/homeless-houseless-unhoused-or-unsheltered-which-term-is-right/
And what's the definition of unhoused according to law? You aren't wrong in what you just said but its missing the point, unhoused literally means the same thing. The goverment only uses the term homeless if I'm not mistaken.
That's a quote from the link you just gave.
Amazingly enough, most words aren't defined in law!
Do you think Cornell defining homeless but not unhoused might be a hint that they are synonyms?
Not to mention you brought up the legal definition of homeless without offering anything to compare it to and help your point. That is the sole reason I brought it up.
You gave me a definition of homelessness, which doesn't counter what I said in the least and then gave me a article that sides with me (and then ignored it completely when I pointed it out) so I'm a bit puzzled.
But I guess sarcasm is easier then admitting you are wrong.
That is quoted US statute, made available in an easy to access format through Cornell, not Cornell defining anything.
I gave you an article that discusses the terminology and how it is used for context that differing terminology is no inherently all different names for the same thing. It doesn't define anything, it just makes it clear that there can be differing terminology that means different things and that the whole thing is a complicated topic. That is why I linked the article, not to prove definitions that don't exist because the terminology varies in usage and consideration of importance.
Any statement of how words are used will be wrong somewhere, except for things like the quoted law that is true in the context of written law in that country/region/whatever. There is always local or regional differences in usage.
So I am right about how we use it in our context to explain the concept of homelessness in the legal context even if some other people think it is a synonym, but thing other terminology has an important distinction. That is what I said, and if you can't understand there isn't a black and white defined terminology for all the variation then you aren't getting my point.
Backtrack all you want but you made a blanket statement saying they weren't synonyms for the entirety of the country when it only seems to apply to your personal context.
You then gave me a link to a meaningless definition and an article that clearly stated I was right, and then topped it off with rude sarcasm when I pointed it out.
The terminology seemed very black and white when you thought you were right, bro.
I was trying to be clear I wasn't talking about Canada, which the article was about, and that my example was from the US,. Not saying it was literally true throughtout the the entire US.
Apparently I needed a full essay to avoid you reading meaning into things. Congrats, you win the internet.
So it was a simple misunderstanding but you just decided to defend it to the death and be a dick about it instead of explaining what you meant. I don't think I could roll my eyes harder if I tried.
Your comments didn't leave room for interpretation. You willy nilly gave out your own definitions and then literally googled "unhoused vs homeless" and threw the first article at me without even reading it. I'm surprised you can even see me from such a high horse. Please.
I did explain. You treated explaining it as moving goalposts because you wanted to be right.
You were so close to being self aware.
I can literally re read the conversation, you only started explaining with an attitude in the last comment.
The time to explain was before you gave made up definitions, not to mention your explanation is a cop out. An explanation doesn't come with salty sarcasm.
The time was before the misunderstanding...
Go touch grass.
The time was after I said it wasn't a synonym. You could have explained that you meant only for you in your own little world, instead you debated, gave me useless definitions and an even worse article to try to prove your point.
Maybe if the explanation came before the sarcasm, I wouldn't still be here explaining the situation.
Tell you what, this is my time to stop responding, that way, you can lie to yourself without me bothering you.
@Grimy Believe it or not, different dialects may have different meanings for the same words.
Yes, but academically and more broadly in society, homeless means unhoused (by broadly in society, I mean in the common language like how third world is a synonyms for developing country even though academically it means something else.)
Important to note that he said in the US, not his hometown dialect or something. It's a blanket statement that is completely wrong no matter how you look at it.
@Grimy Canadian English is a dialect. So is US English. And both have sub-dialects, as well as registers. These are real differences that really do affect how specific words are used and understood.
In US English, unhoused means homeless. I'm saying that it is used and understood as a synonym (you can't argue this point either way without rhetoric) and that it is also officially considered a synonym (you can argue this point by opening a thesaurus).
I understand your point, it's just wrong in both cases. Instead of explaining it, back it up or am I to believe you just because you can quote the wiki on rhetoric? I guess rhetoric only applies to the other person.
@Grimy Get over yourself.
And goodbye. There's plenty of hopelessly tiresome people online already, and no one needs more.
And grow the fuck up already.
Ya, I'm guessing everyone that disagrees with you. You think quoting the rhetoric wiki when it has no place isn't tiresome? Review your own behavior instead of acting offended when you get rebuked.
You literally commented three times under me before I had a chance to respond, told me to "grow the fuck up" and I'm the bad guy here? Is "grow the fuck up" and telling me "get over yourself" a form of rhetoric in your opinion?
@Grimy You are relying on a rhetorical device called an essentialism: an assertion of fact without evidence, a claim asserted as established fact without supporting argument or proof. Put another way:
Things aren't true just because you say they are, no matter how sure you are.
Essentialism isn't merely poor forensics. It's very literally gotten millions of people killed.
We always want to make every effort to use good forensics in arguments.
I don't believe you actually KNOW the facts.
I think the idea is to put the responsibility for housing onto society/authority as opposed to the victim.
Doesn't homeless imply its society's fault too?
Perhaps to some people, but to me it does sound like a homeless person just happens to be without.
Whereas an unhoused person has been let down by whoever is responsible for ensuring people are housed.
I dont see how. If anything, its just a matter of time until you see houseless as being their fault. Because the baggage is something you (and society in general) is adding. Its not implicit in the word itself.
I've been using it a couple of years now and I'm not victim blaming yet.
But I guess "a matter of time" is pretty open ended.
I tell you what though, it's a personal choice, so you keep saying homeless if you like.
Welcome to the euphemism treadmill
In the US they mean different things, as homeless includes people living in other people's homes. That can include people whose house just burnt down and are living with friends or family because they lost their permanent residence (home). Unhoused is about where they are staying.
People on the street are homeless and unhoused.
And you really think people use and understand these terms like that?
You may be correct in the academic sense, but completely wrong in all other senses.
Are you suggesting that the incorrect terms should be used to cater to those of you that don't know there is a difference? Even if you were unaware that there is actually a difference, was the intent and meaning of the headline lost in confusion, or did you understand exactly what they meant?
The "correct" term is the one the target audience understands to mean what is happening.
The "difference", again, is academic. They are de facto used interchangeably. Did the author know the difference? No idea. Could anyone tell, which group the people in question belong to? Probably not.
So what exactly are you trying to achieve here?
So what did you think unhoused meant? Did any meaning get lost?
That's the thing: You can't know that.
We don't know what was meant, we don't know what happened.
So the autistic insistence on nitpicky details adds zero clarity to anything. It's inherently unknowable.
We know what the meant by the word they chose to use. They specifically said "unhoused". Your insinuation is that the author doesn't know what they're talking about and may have used the wrong word instead of believing they know what they're doing.
You're the one being nitpicky on details by your original response when you were critical of the word choice. We're educating you that there is in fact a difference and that the OG headline is accurate. That hurts your butt.
He isn't correct in an academic sense. They are synonyms. Unhoused is being used because homeless has negative connotation to it.
@Grimy Maybe. But unless you can produce a source, it sounds to me like you're only guessing, and forming an essentialism from your feelings and assumptions rather than from evidence.
Read his comments, the sources he gives are in agreement with me. I dont give sources for things that are a Google search away.
Language has power. You'll notice successful effort on the right to get pundits to refer to Oil as Energy. Oil has negative implications, energy has positive. Homeless has negative implications for the person, unhoused has negative implications for the government.
There’s also the difference in how the word is used more as an adjective than a noun. In the same way calling someone a disabled is a lot more dehumanizing than saying they are a person with a disability.