Comment on Why is the US not considered a third world country?

bstix@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Languages evolve over time

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  • bstix@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    What definition and what dictionary?

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    • Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/third world

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      • bstix@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        USA doesn’t fit any of those definitions anyway.

        I know what OP means, 3rd world is just not the right word.

        USA is a banana republic

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  • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Just because a lot of people use a phrase incorrectly doesn’t mean that it should be the accepted meaning.

    A good example is “have your cake and eat it, too”. As the Unabomber famously fixated on, the phrase was originally “you can’t eat your cake and have it, too”. That saying actually makes sense and has meaning.

    After a while people began to jokingly say it backwards, as “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too”. That was dandy, until people forgot that it was a joke. Now, years later, we’re all left with a saying that is fucking ridiculous sounding and but we keep saying it because we need the original phrase in our language.

    Sure, language evolves and changes. Sometimes though, it’s a good idea to be sticklers about the rules.

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    • sandalbucket@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It’s not rocket appliances

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  • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I guess I still go by the original definition. There are other words that offer more detail anyway - kakistocracy, gerontocracy, corporatocracy, kleptocracy, etc.

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    • Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Developing world would be the synonym for third world in the definition used by OP.

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  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I agree language is descriptive and not prescriptive, but it sounds like comparing two categories developing vs developed may be more apt and not three like a 3 world model would entail.

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