Comment on Why English language is sometimes "lazy", sometimes not
moody@lemmings.world 1 week ago
Many of those words aren’t actually limited to those use cases, but they are used there because they have very specific meanings. A plaintiff, for example, is the person lodging a complaint. Doesn’t have to be a legal complaint, but in legal terms it makes it very clear who we’re talking about.
Others are just expressions. A snap election is just when you call an election earlier than the scheduled one. It’s essentially a nickname for something more complicated. Same goes with casting a ballot. It just means to toss your vote in for the count. It’s just the expression that stuck because it sounds fancier than just saying “voting.”
Thavron@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
I think the OP was wondering why that person wouldn’t just be called a complaintlodger. Like with firefighter.
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
A quick “rule” is to see how old the word/concept is. “plaintiff” would have existed almost as long as the English legal system came into being, or probably even older to the [court of Assizes](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assizes] pre-12th century.
Whereas firefighter as a profession might have only become a word after the establishment of fire department by insurance companies, which I think might have been a 19th century development.
Bridger@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Or complainer…