I don’t often pull out my language cop card, I understand (well, accept is probably a better word there) the way people (mis)use the words that are so very clearly defined in the giant tome that keeps such knowledge - you may have heard of it, they call it a dictionary.
Ahem.
As I was saying … I accept that people utilise words in a way that is often not the original intent of the word. This, I understand, is due to previously hearing it in a changed state (through nuance, sarcasm or irony) or having in fact learnt the usage in an incorrect context or use (through ignorance or simplification).
All of that is to say, that sometimes people say things that pass on a sentiment that may not in fact be correct.
Take into consideration the term “A simple life”
A. Simple. Life.
Simple: Adjective: Easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty. (Synonyms: plain - homely - unsophisticated - naive)
Life: Noun; The condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional… (Synonyms: existence - lifetime - living - being)
Is this really what people are thinking about? Is thiis what they are really after? An unsophisticated existence? Living as a naive being? Perhaps, the phrase is wrong, perhaps somebody was lazy this one time and shortend the phrase? Let us compared it in a fuller sense:
A simple LIFESTYLE:
Lifestyle: Noun: The way in which a person or group lives: “the benefits of a healthy lifestyle”. (Synonyms: way of life)
An uncomplicated way of life.
This would make far more sense now, would it not?
If that is the case, then some of the social assumptions and stereotypes must surely change? A simple lifestyle does not imply that the participant of such a way of life has an uncomplicated existence, nor does it imply stupidity or the presumption that any idiot can do that work.
This basic lack of language fidelity may very well be the cause of so much misunderstanding.
[Reposted from xntrek]
