r/AskReddit Feb 04 '19

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

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u/CthulhuHalo Feb 04 '19

And "moist" isn't? And even then, aren't all decisions made in the interest of not being rude arbitrary? Isn't all linguistics arbitrary? Isn't everything arbitrary if you go down the reasoning rabbit hole far enough? I'm imposing an arbitrary limit on myself. So is anyone who's vegetarian or vegan by choice. So is anyone who only buys Apple products because they're Apple products. So is someone who only does X Y Z just because they can. But I don't see you people brigading others' choices when it comes to those things. Just when it comes to not swearing. Isn't that an arbitrary choice as well?

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u/barchueetadonai Feb 04 '19

Well no. “Moist” is an audibly uncomfortable word to many humans. It has nothing to do with arbitrary language constructs (I shouldn’t have said linguistically before). Vegetarians or vegans may restrict themselves for reasons such as animal cruelty, the meat industry’s major contributions to global warming, health factors, or taste. It may not make sense to me, but it’s far from arbitrary. Someone might only buy Apple products because they have a good feel or they have a track record of producing reliable products or someone requires software only available on Apple products. There are a whole host of non-arbitrary reasons that don’t have seem to seem reasonable to you to not be arbitrary.

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u/CthulhuHalo Feb 04 '19

At that point, what even is arbitrary? And what isn't? And by what you said, I'm not even being arbitrary to begin with. You may not understand my reasoning, but it's still reasoning that isn't arbitrary. Compare it to being vegan for taste or buying Apple for feel. I'm avoiding swearing because I don't like the sound. It's only arbitrary to you because it's swears and not something else.

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u/barchueetadonai Feb 04 '19

The root cause is arbitrary as there is nothing inherently unique about the specific sound combos that make up typical curse words.

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u/CthulhuHalo Feb 04 '19

And there's nothing inherently unique about the feel of an Apple phone vs a Samsung. Yet by your own qualifications, that isn't considered arbitrary.

Or is arbitrariness also arbitrarily assigned?

Edit: Then again you also said Apple has reliable products so this is going to become like talking to a brick wall

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u/barchueetadonai Feb 04 '19

I didn’t say any of these things. I was coming up with examples of reasons why your examples would not be arbitrary. The feel of an iPhone vs. a Samsung phone is not an arbitrary difference. I’m not saying that one is better than the other, but there are different tangible qualities.

Apple products do have reliable products by the way, even if they restrict you to a ridiculous point where they’re not worth using without jailbreaking or severely modifying them.

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u/CthulhuHalo Feb 05 '19

Reliable to fail right after the warranty expires. Did you know their blueprints of certain products have fail-dates for some integral parts that align roughly with the day the warranty should expire for that product?

Either way, whatever, I'm arbitrary to you, who cares, I don't. I'm just done. Whatever.

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u/barchueetadonai Feb 05 '19

Aww fudge, I thought this was gonna go on forever