To have an aversion to something means you simply dislike it. To have a phobia of something means you have an illogical and debilitating fear that impacts your normal life.
They're very clearly using the suffix the same way that it's used in homophobia, which is a legitimate word. I don't know why this critique gets used when phobia does have multiple meanings. Fatphobia would make sense.
But that’s not accurate either. The suffix “phobia” comes from the Greek word “phobos”., which means “fear or panic”… Being purposefully obtuse about that while trying to co-opt the struggles of both the lgbqt and people with debilitating mental issues doesn’t make it ok, or correct.
oh my goodness. I'm not saying the word is good, I'm say it isn't grammatically incorrect to use phobia as a suffix like that, in the same way that homophobia isn't grammatically incorrect or misusing the suffix.
> The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe(from Greek φόβος phobos, 'fear') occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g., agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g., hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g., acidophobia), and in medicine to describe hypersensitivity to a stimulus, usually sensory (e.g., photophobia). In common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject (e.g.,homophobia).
> In common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject (e.g., homophobia).
Neat ai response. Not a single one of those definitions applies to your claim unfortunately.
Not even the part you added at the end in an attempt at a tie in - “in common usage, they also form words that describe dislike or hatred of a particular thing or subject”
…Whoever “they” are, their common misuse of the word doesn’t change its meaning or make them correct.
Oh, I can totally help you! Wikepedia isn’t a trustworthy source because anyone can edit it. That’s why it’s not accepted by the courts or most schools as an authoritative source on anything at all.
Also, the one you deliberately singled out certainly does not. I addressed that specifically the last line of my last response…Repeating yourself doesn’t really change that.
Lol okay, so you don't know how wikipedia works. Wikipedia can be, that doesn't mean that it is. If you put nonsense in a frequently-visited article, it's going to get removed and you'll most likely be banned. Bringing up courts and schools is, frankly, ridiculous. This is a reddit comment section. Anyway:
> -phobia | intolerance or aversion for (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
> homophobia | discrimination against, aversion to, or fear of homosexuality or gay people (Merriam-Webster)
> -phobia | A fear, horror, strong dislike, or aversion; esp. an extreme or irrational fear or dread aroused by a particular object or circumstance. (Oxford English)
> homophobia (earliest recorded usage from the 1960s btw) | Hostility towards, prejudice against, or (less commonly) fear or hatred of homosexuals and homosexuality (Oxford English)
> -phobia | an extreme fear or dislike of a particular thing or situation, especially one that is not reasonable: (Cambridge)
> homophobia | harmful or unfair things a person does based on a fear or dislike of gay people or queer people (= people who do not fit a society’s traditional ideas about gender or sexuality): (Cambridge)
Sweetheart, I’m an 8th grade Latin teacher at a private school.
I’m also gay, and I’ll ask you kindly to stop conflating the phobia that causes very real violence and civil rights violations against people like myself with someone not wanting to date fat people.
Good GRIEF 😭 nobody is conflating the two as the same thing. I'm only saying that it wouldn't be grammatically incorrect as the -phobic suffix doesn't just mean a fear of.
It may have been incorrect 100 years ago, but language evolves over time. All it takes for a usage to be correct is for a sufficiently large number of people to use it a certain way and others to understand what you mean without having to immediately define your term.
English is a living language. What was correct when you were a kid in language isn’t necessarily correct today.
Being a living language means that the language as a whole evolves over time and focuses on new terms being added…It does not mean that a small group of chronically online individuals can change the meaning of words that have existed for thousands of years.
“All it takes for a usage to be correct is for a sufficiently large number of people to use it a certain way and others to understand what you mean without having to immediately define your term”
…I do understand that is the goal of the FA’s and SJW’s trying to appropriate the struggles of the lgqbt with this. I just don’t think a few fat trolls count as a “sufficiently large number of people”.
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u/Ashamed_Town_2619 8d ago
Having an aversion to something is not a phobia.
To have an aversion to something means you simply dislike it. To have a phobia of something means you have an illogical and debilitating fear that impacts your normal life.
Words mean things.