#the definition. yet nobody calls the white westerners ''immigrants'' but does the people from periphery countries | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mishkakagehishka · 5 months

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I'm still pissed off at the fact that so many responses to that post were "um ackshually the dictionary definition☝️🤓" and now that i'm actually a linguistics student i have the vocabulary necessary to explain why it pissed me off so i want a round two.

#it's a difference between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to language #you can slap a dictionary around all you want it doesn't change how words are used in real life by real people #original meanings mean nothing when they change #nice used to mean simple and used to mean stupid.#yet now we use it to mean nice/kind/good.#and so. ''expat'' means ''temporary worker'' so it's fine for brits to use it here #but it's really not because like ... the brits come here to retire and die. the immigrants from nepal are the real expats if we use #the definition. yet nobody calls the white westerners ''immigrants'' but does the people from periphery countries #funny how that works. 🤔 it seems like we ignore definitions in favour of some ideology but it's not a linguistic one

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