What we have called “motorcycles” should actually be called “enginecycles”. Also, the engine on enginecycles is a four-cycle engine.

  • forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 days ago

    Uh, no. Maybe check the definition of a word before you accuse people of using it wrong?

    Besides, there is literally no benefit to this kind of approach. The most popular use of a word is the definition of the word, not the other way around. And yes, this means it will change over time. So even if motor didn’t literally refer to a certain type of engine, the definition of the word motorcycle is not dependent on the definition of the word motor. Even if there was a contradiction between the definition of the two words that’s literally irrelevant. There’s no point getting all annoyed about it, that’s just how language works. But you will not help anything by trying to force people to change how they’re using a word. It’ll just cause confusion and make communication even less clear.