this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Yes yes, language changes over time. I've heard that mantra for decades and I know it. That doesn't mean there aren't language changes that aren't grating when they become fashionable (and hopefully temporary).

For me, "morals" being used as a crude catch-all application of "morality," "ethics," "integrity" or related concepts bothers me. Sentence example: "Maybe if society had morals there wouldn't be so many minorities in prison." lmayo us-foreign-policy

An even more annoying otherwise-fluent-speaker modification I see is when "conscious" is used to mean "consciousness" and "conscience" interchangeably. Sentence example: "Single mothers on welfare that steal baby formula have no conscious." It sounds like they're saying the shoplifter is not mentally aware of their own actions, not that they're lacking sufficient "morals" to let their baby starve for the sake of Rules-Based Order(tm).

There's others, but those two come up enough recently, with sufficient newness, for me to bring them up here. Some old classic language quirks are so established and entrenched that even though I hate them, bringing them up would likely invite some hatemail and maybe some mystery alt accounts also sending hatemail after that. You know, because they "could care less(sic)" about what I think. janet-wink

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[–] Zuzak@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

When people get all weird about distinguishing "ethics" and "morals," and when they're afraid to just call things good or bad. In Catholic high school one of my teachers said the difference was that atheists can only be ethical and not moral and that seemed like a load of bull so I just use them interchangeably. But now people seen to make the distinction in the other direction, what with the whole, "Up yours, woke moralists!" bit up-yours-woke-moralists

Anyone who fucks around with these word games is hiding something, possibly even from themselves. Ethical, moral, good, beneficial, productive, pro-social, I don't care what term you wanna use, if it's good it's good and if it's bad it's bad. When someone says their views are ethical but not moral or moral but not ethical, get ready to hear some fucked up shit.

Maybe there's some academic distinction where it's meaningful and ok but I'm just going off personal experience.

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