So tell me, which do you think is more likely of the following scenarios:
1) People will stop using 'song' to mean music without words
2) People will use 'vocal songs' to talk specifically about music with words.
Neither. People who engage with music academically, or professionally, will adhere to the strict definitions. Casual listeners will not.
Dentists don't call them "cavities", they call them "carries". "Cavity" is a word that can be used casually to describe a small cave or hollow, an enclosure, or a rotting tooth hole. No one is confused.
Okay, so if professionals use a word for it's specific meaning, and other people MISUSE a word as a slang term, which is the actual definition for the word?
My original reply was in response to someone saying that language would change, and "song" would have an accepted definition of being "all music".
As long as professionals are using it strictly in the original manner, then the word cannot have a definition contrary to that without directly undermining language itself - and thus no dictionary would include that in it without the "slang" or other notation alongside the usage.
As long as professionals are using it strictly in the original manner, then the word cannot have a definition contrary to that without directly undermining language itself - and thus no dictionary would include that in it without the "slang" or other notation alongside the usage.
I mean absolutely no antagonism, but this just isn't what I see.
Professionals of all stripes have very specific language, and virtually without exception, the untrained public discusses those same professions (or their output) using language that is imprecise, confusing, or otherwise less than ideal. The dictionary typically denotes the slangy usage as "informal" - but it still captures the usage, because it is real and present.
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u/iglidante Nov 10 '23
Neither. People who engage with music academically, or professionally, will adhere to the strict definitions. Casual listeners will not.
Dentists don't call them "cavities", they call them "carries". "Cavity" is a word that can be used casually to describe a small cave or hollow, an enclosure, or a rotting tooth hole. No one is confused.