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What's a word you've spent a long time not using right? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.

More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.

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[+] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee -12 points 1 year ago

True, but in the context of talking about someone's child in my local culture, it raises an eyebrow or two if the other person doesn't associate the two conditions.

[-] Therealgoodjanet@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

it raises an eyebrow or two if the other person doesn’t associate the two conditions.

I don’t get it. It raises an eyebrow if you don’t link encephalitis and HIV? I’m about 90% sure I must be misunderstanding you...

[-] spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 year ago

Or they’re just doubling down on using it incorrectly.

this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023

157 points (93.9% liked)

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