Why are people using more and more confusing and ambiguous words nowadays?

1. 82

   Venkatachari Mposted 6 years ago

   Why are people using more and more confusing and ambiguous words nowadays?
   
   I am seeing this trend nowadays very frequently that words get used which can refer to two or more meanings thereby creating confusion among readers.
   For example, "Tire" instead of Tyre". Tire refers to getting tired or tiredness that is an attribute. Why use it for "Tyre" which is the wheel cover? There are many others that I haven't noted previously to mention now.

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2. 85

   Jackie Lynnleyposted 6 years ago

   I don't know your friend, if they are changing their language or if it is just different from yours. Personally I have never used the word Tyre in my life and I do use the word tire to mean tired (not feeling energetic) and a tire on a car.
   Hope this helps.

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   1. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      That's what I'm saying. Why use tire  to mean both the contexts.

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3. 85

   Necento antoposted 6 years ago

   I guess there are 2 possibilities.
   1) May be he or she do not know the actual spelling of the word they want to use.
   2) May be they wrote the word absent-mindedly and didn't notice they had written the spelling incorrectly.
   3)There is a difference in spelling when it comes to American and British English.
   For example: Tyre and tire mean covering of the wheel of a car the only difference is the spelling. Tire is a preferred spelling in USA and Canada and Tyre is preferred in United Kingdom and some other countries.

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   1. 81

      peachpurpleposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      you are right, in Malaysia, we use tyre not tire, British syllabus, sometimes I get mixed up with the spelling too because online , most people use the American syllabus

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   2. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      But, tire means to become weary or getting tired of for most of the people all around the world. Why change it only because of a smaller percentage of people?

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4. 93

   lisavollrathposted 6 years ago

   In US English, "tire" refers to both being weary, and the wheel cover. "Tyre" is a city in Lebanon.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for mentioning about the city.

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5. 83

   RoadMonkeyposted 6 years ago

   Depends whether you use "real" English or American English! I AM JOKING HERE FOLKS! In the UK, it's a tap, a nappy and a dummy. In the USA, a faucet, a diaper, a pacifier. The bonnet is the hood and a rubber is an eraser. And don't ask an American student for a rubber, they will think you want a condom. As George Bernard Shaw said, two nations divided by a common language.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      A good answer with some humor to enjoy.
      I don't understand why they changed these words and spellings instead of adopting them as they are?

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   2. 83

      RoadMonkeyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I think there were attempts at simplifying spelling. In the UK, the letter 'u' is used in colour, favour, neighbour, etc, whereas USA spelling removes that silent letter. They have also simplified such words as sulphur, to sulfur, which helps.

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   3. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      No, it doesn't help. It increases the confusion. There is much difference in pronouncing the words 'neighbor' and 'neighbour' and the words 'flavor' and 'flavour'. Same is with 'tire' and 'tyre'.

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6. 56

   The0NatureBoyposted 6 years ago

   Ven, we are in the days of civilization's end which the Bible's "tower of Babel" (Gen. 11:1-9) symbolizes the world will return to during the last days. If you notice the world is either "pretending to" or is sending people beyond earth's atmosphere for long stays as another form of a tower meaning these are the finial days, its destruction is at hand.
   
   You will notice the Bible called the place "Babel" and the major player in space travel, the USA, is to be biblically called "Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth". It is to be built on the backs of people the earth over (Rev. 17:1-15) as is the feet of the Image (Daniel 2) revealed as the meaning Nebuchadnezzar dreamt about for the last days with the finial nation being built on the "seed of man" or people the world over.
   
   The word Babel means to talk without being able to comprehend the meaning and Babylon means "a place of babel", thus, we have the reverse of what happened in the beginning happening here in the USA. The following are some terms we take for granite I want to include the meanings of.
   
   Man: mind able to comprehend all things.
   
   Human: "hu" means hew and "to cut, usually by blows," which makes the man the hewed man was cut from to be "incomplete man."
   
   Woman: "wo" means "woven from" and like human means incomplete man of both what was woven from and the man it was woven from to be woman.
   
   Female: "fe" is shortened fee with the meaning of "a price paid or to be paid" which makes females to be someone a "mind able to comprehend all things" worked to obtain since male is another term for man.
   
   Baby: any mammal at the time of birth.
   
   Child: any baby of man once it began to walk.
   
   Adolescent: which is seldom used to hide the sodomy of children who are supposed to have been weaned from their mothers at about age twelve and are not adults until puberty.
   
   Boy: a mammal species' child of the age to beget offsprings.
   
   Girl: a mammal species' child of the age to conceive offsprings.
   
   Dominion: originally meant "to exceed the ability of" but now has been changed to mean to rule over.
   
   This list is proof that these are the days for ending civilization, commonly called the world, which will be replaced by a civilization of "spiritual beings" without physical manifestations they can realize, they will see only their spirits (See Revelation 21) which doesn't require the sun nor physical substance to maintain.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Very interesting explanation. It is true that our civilization and development of technology is destroying the very existence of man and this world. Your predictions are going to happen soon.

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      S Mareeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      My husband and I, too, believe we are in the vortex of the end times.  It is promised to happen in our holy book, the Bible.  I would like to know how other faiths perceive these times.  I do not wish to prompt a conflict of faiths, just information.

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   3. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Our scriptures do not tell about the end of the world. But, we believe in the cycles of the universe that discards one cycle and enters the next cycle after some tens of thousands of years (scientists say it is only 3 or 4 thousand years).

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   4. 56

      The0NatureBoyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      SM, Hindu texts call this phase of civilization "Cala Yuga" where corruption abounds and all manner disunity prevails and the only time man-en-mass will be redeemed. Conflict causes questions which leads to answers and answers leads to salvation.

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   5. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, many believe that "Cala yuga" or Kali-yuga" is the last phase of one cycle after which the world ends. It is the phase where evil exceeds in manifold over good and so God ends the world. But, I am not so much clear.

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   6. 56

      The0NatureBoyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Not so clear about what, Venkatachri? Thanks for the spelling of Kali, I was not sure how.

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   7. 0

      S Mareeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate your insights!  The better I understand the world, the more connected I am with it.  Thank you gentlemen!

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7. 76

   alancaster149posted 6 years ago

   It's been said before - sometimes by me - that American and Commonwealth English differ in a shift since spelling and usage in England changed since the Revolution, after the American colonists achieved independence in the late18th Century. Until then spellling was common to both sides of the Atlantic, then Oxford University, the arbiter of English usage, went through a change. Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand etc followed the British pattern, Canada uses British and US spelling and its accent follows closely on the New England pattern since settlers loyal to the crown from the American colonies moved north, displacing former French colonists.
   What really spices things up on both sides of the Atlantic etc is 'double entendre' that we share, where words have more than one meaning, rather than different spelling, That takes you into different territory altogether. These are words that can be substituted to give a sexual meaning, like using 'melons' for women's breasts. Or 'hasn't she got a pair of bazookas', with no military connotations. And so it goes on. We still use 'birds' to mean girls, and a 'shaft' or 'length' is altogether a new world. Americans usually can't follow English usage when it comes to colloquialisms, and vice versa. We 'grew up' separately and migration to the US from Europe brought new levels of understanding.

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   1. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      A good answer with some weight. But, colloquialism is there in all languages when people enjoy drawing new meanings and contexts to words to satisfy their sensual feelings. So, you can't prevent such things.

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8. 0

   S Mareeposted 6 years ago

   I'd venture to say most Americans are the culprits for the dichotomy you observe.  I choose that word due to its meaning of "branching" from a main "stem".
   
   In natural progression, branching is the usual method of progress from a parent, be it an animal, plant, idea, or word.  If one reads Chaucer, one encounters the word "whan",  which at first glance seems meaningless to today's reader.  It is only when one delves into the history of the English language that one finds it is an earlier version of today's "when".  Some Americans still use Chaucerian pronunciation, if not the spelling, thus branching the word as with a tree limb.
   
   This is a simple branch.  With your "tire-tyre" conundrum, English really becomes a bit bushy.  Why do we in America prefer a word with two meanings when most English speakers use the more understandable dual spellings?
   
   Compound this with the English language's tendency to borrow words from other tongues,  often corrupting them.  Think, too, of the many variations of pidgin English, which usually developed when English speakers would not use the language of the countries they were in, forcing the inhabitants to come up with a go-between argot.
   
   My ancestors in America, who came from various English shires, tended to create enclaves within the 13 colonies where the old pronunciations held fast longer while the London Standard was
   becoming accepted as "proper".  Indeed, even the more isolated portions of England managed to hang on to the old usages until this day, when they're becoming prized, recorded, and even relearned!
   
   There is so much more to your question, Mr. Venkatachari M.,than can be covered in a short composition.  May I introduce you to three guides which were of great help to me?
   
   The first, which is a good introduction, is "The Story of English".
   Written By Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeal, it was also made into a PBS documentary.  I do, however, suggest reading the book before watching the program.
   
   Second is Albert Baugh's "History of the English Language".  'The Origins and Development of the English Language" by Thomas Pyles rounds out the trio.
   
   These three volumes have been immensely helpful to me in understanding why English is such an elastic language.  Despite the difficulty learning it (even for one brought up speaking the Midwest American version), it is so accepting of new words and usages that it really is a major communication world standard.
   
   Best wishes to you, sir!

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      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you very much for this detailed answer and suggestion of some good books for further review. I like it very much.

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      The0NatureBoyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      A prime example of a "corrupted" borrowed word is philosophy from Greeks. Phil means love or lover and soppy means wisdom which is used to be what is said rather than the speaker. "I like that Philosophy" as an example when the word means the speaker

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9. 87

   nochanceposted 6 years ago

   It's not really a current trend. Shakespeare used wordplay such as this in some of his plays.
   
   This was part of a chain email floating around years ago. https://www.crossroad.to/Books/children/language.htm
   
   1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
   
   2) The farm was used to produce produce.
   
   3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
   
   4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
   
   5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
   
   6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
   
   7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
   
   8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
   
   9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
   
   10) I did not object to the object.
   
   11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
   
   12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
   
   13) They were too close to the door to close it.
   
   14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
   
   15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
   
   16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
   
   17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
   
   18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
   
   19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
   
   20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
   
   Also this:
   
     THE CHAOS
   
           by Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité
           (Netherlands, 1870-1946)
   
           Dearest creature in creation,
           Study English pronunciation.
           I will teach you in my verse
           Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
           I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
           Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
           Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
           So shall I!  Oh hear my prayer.
           Pray, console your loving poet,
           Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
   
           Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
           Dies and diet, lord and word,
           Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
           (Mind the latter, how it's written.)
           Now I surely will not plague you
           With such words as plaque and ague.
           But be careful how you speak:
           Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
           Cloven, oven, how and low,
           Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
   
   Click link to read the rest: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~clamen/misc/hum … Chaos.html

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   1. 0

      S Mareeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I love the elasticity of English!  No wonder it is an international language! 
      
      My heart goes out to anyone learning it as a second language.  It's bad enough that many native speakers find it challenging!
      (Last sentence may be read two ways.)

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   2. 82

      Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Very entertaining and humorous presentation of your answer. I enjoyed it a lot.
      But, my question about why "tire" is used instead of "tyre" to refer to the rubber cover of wheel is not dealt with in this.

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10. 46

    Ericdierkerposted 6 years ago

    Oh my friend I think the language differences have been covered quite well in the answers and comments.
    I intentionally use words to confuse and to create ambiguity. When writing in the field of beliefs, religions and spirituality the first order of business is to shake preconceived notions.
    You have just got to lay out a course that creates a doubt in one's previously held notions. Using words with ulterior meanings helps one pause to question what they thought before. The confusion leads to questions and the questions force a learning.
    "What the hell is he talking about?"
    And so from there we can look into some area of inquiry with an inquisitive mind and less prejudgment.
    I just love words that people just assume has a pejorative meaning and they are wrong. "You are weird". Weird means different, not negatively different. I hope we all want to be different. Of course the negative is also a use and therefor confusion which leads to inquiry which leads to growth.
    I do not confuse you with my words. You get confused reading them. I know what I meant, what does it mean to you?
    I just really like this question. And yes to me Tyre is an ancient city of the Phoenicians.

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    1. 82

       Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       This is a very good attitude. I like it. It is true that one needs to understand others' thoughts and language from their own angle and NOT with one's own one-sided presumptions. One can question things and thereby learn new things to grow himself.

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       S Mareeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       While I want people to open eyes & hearts to the greater worlds' needs, I am wary of those who seem to be gleeful at creating confusion.  We have quite enough of that between our world leaders. 
       
       Are your methods altruistic or impish? Take care!

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       Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, that thing is there. One shouldn't be impish and naughty, enjoying by confusing other people.

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       Ericdierkerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       For sure one should not be impish or naughty with words. And one should understand the power of words. And one should not be complacent with words. The ability to use words should not be dishonored.

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       S Mareeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       One might wish to explore writings of Robert Phillipson.  A different tangent is the Plain English Campaign.  Both can be found on search engines.

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11. 86

    Robert Sacchiposted 6 years ago

    This is nothing new.  In the Book Flowers For Algernon, Charlie, wrote about how when people learn the meaning of a word they come up with a new word.

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       Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       That's true.

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12. 73

    clivewilliamsposted 6 years ago

    Simple. Because people are incomplete and imperfect. Hence the language we speak is also incomplete and confusing. a perfect race will have a perfect language.

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       The0NatureBoyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       God don't make imperfection, man judge imperfections. Isaiah 45:7 KJV says everything being done is done by god at all times, thus, that's god's doings to make the U.S. Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abomination Of The Earth.

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    2. 82

       Venkatachari Mposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       That's a pretty, witty answer, Clive.

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