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What's a word you've spent a long time not using right? (lemm.ee)

submitted 11 months ago by shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.

More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.

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[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not in the UK itself (hence I distinguish them with "mainlanders"), just someone who has lived a commonwealth/territorial upbringing and has moved around a few times. The debate with said mainlanders sticks out because people within the physical UK differ largely in how they say things, and when you emulate them and fail from the perspective of someone from a lesser part of the anglosphere, you can't make the case as well that it's just a matter of different equally valid uses for the same vocabulary.

[–] thesmokingman@programming.dev 2 points 11 months ago

Ahhhhhh good clarification! Sorry for missing the location point.