I use it as a derogatory term. Content creator is for the people who create content that is imo valuable. Influencers I use for the type of person who makes content to sell as space.

I find it quite useful as warning that you'll now hear about the opinion of a moron which you can safely ignore.

I call them freelance advertisers.

Yeah the whole influencer thing came too late. We have curators (people who find cool stuff and rave about it) and then critics (people who look at multiple offerings in the same category and give a measured take on each, sometimes comparing and contrasting).

But for most mechandise the most accessible voices are the ones who are bought by marketing departments and are obligated to give positive reviews. Curators now push the stuff they were paid to push. Critics are paid to give positive reviews, so to the viewers and readers, we can't expect a fair assessment.

Not that this is a new phenomenon, but these roles had long been generally known as corrupted and biased before anyone called themselves an influencer, so I suspect the role is closer to Only Fans accounts that sell small amounts of lover / partner engagement to lonely people. Influncers are non-premium OF with ads and no nudity.

I think in most cases, you can replace it with advertiser as that's usually what it is...

When I first heard the term it was on that Black Mirror episode about the star ratings affecting people's real lives, and I thought it was just an appropriately creepy and dystopian term made up for the creepy dystopian show. Then I learned it's what those people actually called themselves and it's so gross.

If your job title literally means "I convince people to want stuff I have" you probably need to get in the sea.

It is an oddly accurate term tho, only except that everyone with 50 followers calls themselves that.

I guess it is rather a mirror to society than anything else, that influencing opinions is a job - also think politics, marketing, lawyers, religions... Pretty weird society we have, if you think about it.

Also I can't remember the right term, someone help me out - but isn't the proper term for most news something like "opinion making"?

I wish we had a good term. "Content Creator" is meaningless and allows vapid instagram and tiktok people to slip in. Film maker has some serious connotations with Hollywood and movies that will give people the wrong idea. Media creator kinda works, but it isn't specific to what type of media. YouTuber is strongly coupled to a corporation, so that sucks. Memeist? Video maker?

Exactly, how do people get ‘influenced’ anyways? I think it says something about people following them and thinking them ‘influencers’ are nice and likeable people. They often ignore other’s privacy and aura.

I know, when did "woman" become so problematic?

Gals and ladies are my go-to

If someone uses female as a noun instead of an adjective, there's an 80% chance they're a serial killer, and a 100% chance they're an incel.

That word used contextually inappropriately pings my incel radar. Definitely makes me pay attention.

Socially, female seems to be a distancing term, if someone feels it's not their position to discuss women. To me female is biological discriptor used when discussing non-humans (e.g. a female antelope) and Ive gotten in the habit of talking about a woman firefighter or a woman conductor to avoid female, I think because it is largely associated now with the alt-right between incels and alpha-males.

Unless it's said by Martin in Friday Night Dinner then for some reason it's hilarious

Unfortunately, It's become necessary sometimes when discussing sex vs. gender. Since woman is now a catch-all for anyone who wants to be defined as such, if you need to differentiate biological women from non-biological women, female is the only single-word usage available.

"It usually gets under my skin."

CRAWWWLINGGG IN MY SKINNNNNNN

Well at least health care hasn’t started using the word consumer yet!

They avoid using that term and instead use "patient" but these are patients of money extracting procedures regardless.

I haven't seen that in healthcare settings yet. Just curious what context it was in specifically.

service user

"Customer" in an unemployment agency setting. Before you call a person customer, treat them like one.

A company I used to work for thought it would be smart to rebrand Human Resources to "Human Capital Management" as if they really wanted no misunderstandings about how the company viewed it's workers.

Yuck.

Human Recycling.

It's supposed to imply resources for the humans in the company as opposed to corporate resources.

I've always wondered what that means. Did they start an LLC and do nothing with it? Fall for a pyramid scheme? Write phishing emails?

Usually when someone owns a business, it's a point of pride and part of their sense of self. "I run a restaurant" or "I'm a patternmaker" or something. "Entrepreneur " means nothing. As an accountant myself, I find I use this gif way too much:

entrepeneur = unemployed procrastinator with a trust fund

I don't think it refers to effort level alone. It's about doing obnoxious, unfun things to get marginal (at best) advantages.

For example, the only game I really still play multiplayer is Madden. If I hold a dude to 4th and 15 and they go for it, I know damn well it's going to be a boring shitshow of a game until they rage quit. They're going to turn it over on downs because that's not a convertible play, I'm going to get an easy touchdown, they're going to be even more stupidly aggressive on the next possession because now they're behind, and it's going to be a blowout where I'm just waiting for them to quit because there's no way they're going to play it out for a whole game.

That's a try hard. Someone just winning and making intelligent gambles isn't.

I got called a try hard in tft recently. It seemed so moronic especially at a silver elo because I'm just playing to have fun not be min maxing

Devs use it in the software industry to describe the people who work excess hours and weekends to try and impress somebody, when it was unnecessary. And all it does is make normal people look bad for just doing a reasonably regular amount of work. If you're going above and beyond all the time, that's no longer going above and beyond, you've just pushed out the goal post for what is normal

At the same time they're saying "I'm not a try hard. I could beat them any time I want but I choose not to". GTFOH loser

"Nerd" is used similarly for kids who do well in school.

They are talking shit because the try hard was probably an asshole.

That is the point of calling someone an NPC.

Isn't the whole point to dehumanise them?

They're calling them a "none playable character" after all.

Isn't the point to claim someone is not thinking for themselves and is just going with whatever is popular at the moment? Like he has no real agency?

I am not sure if this is a joke or not, so I won't upvote nor downvote lol

I do this, and it is because I consider some people as soulless entities purely put here to stir up drama for this terrible reality show we all live in.

This one's interesting, because it hails from a time when there was more of a cultural underpinning to the term - companies had a cultural obligation to at least keep up a facade of taking care of their customers, and calling customers guests was explicitly meant to convey a sense of safety and comfort.

It has the exact opposite effect now, because the customer's interests are often in direct opposition to those of the company. The company thinks it owns you, and no longer cares what you think about it.

I always reflexively imagine a Ferengi from Star Trek going "feee-male"

100%, it's always some basement dwelling dude that uses female.

i always associated this word with documentaries about animals 😁

except that you can have a home without having a house, so "houselessness" would be more accurate with that logic

I love the phrase "This is not a crack house, it's a crack HOME"

I agree that a house is not a home, but what do you tell people when you're buying a "house" but it could actually be a condo or a townhouse? When I say house, people assume I'm talking about a single-family house with a yard, driveway, etc. Is there a better word to encompass different property types that can become your home?

"woke" is just a catchall for "things I don't understand and don't like, and thus have hate towards"

Conversely, "woke" within the New Age movement, which is where I first heard it. Idk if it was confined to the FB groups I was lurking in back in the day, but they felt so enlightened and elite. If they only knew how deluded and cringy they seemed to outsiders. There were some odd misunderstandings when I read and used the term again in other social medias.

I agree that people throw terms like smart/intelligent around incorrectly, and often try to "sound smart", and I cringe at those things too.

...but you're also asserting that intellectual capacity doesn't exist and that is incorrect, or at least incomplete.

--TL;DR-- Intelligence is valuable and varies between people but it seems like everyone has the ability to be intelligent given the right conditions. The taboo around intelligence prevents us from getting underperforming kids the help they need.

The important truth is that we don't fully understand what contributes to intelligence.

We know that motivation is enormously important. The difference between being offered $1 and $10 explains something wild like >10 points on an IQ test. https://www.science.org/...

We also know that mental health and emotional state makes a big difference. So everything impacting mental health would contribute. https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/...

These factors alone mean that our intellectual performance can change from moment to moment.

Another important distinction is that there are two kinds of intelligence, fluid and crystalized. Fluid intelligence is our ability to solve moment-to-moment interactions, and new and novel problems. Crystalized intelligence is the ability to take foundational principles that we've already been exposed to and use those to solve secondary, abstract, or complex problems. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...

That second one is almost entirely based on the types of problems we've been exposed to in our lives, meaning that it's impacted by our previous behavior and our circumstances (which are largely out of our control).

We have no reason to believe that intelligence is some kind of immutable genetic trait that some have and some don't - in fact that's largely been debunked as far as I know.

However, the controversial field of behavioral genetics has demonstrated that a large percentage is our personalities and behaviors are impacted by our genetics. This would be an indirect factor. https://www.psychologytoday.com/...

Where does this leave us?

A person may be more genetically predisposed to being hard working (trait conscientiousness), which may make them more likely to apply themselves to work and education, meaning that they have a higher intellectual capacity. Or, they may just follow instructions without thinking and have a lower intellectual capacity.

A person may experience an event that makes them highly value health, motivating them to become a doctor. Or they may behind afraid of medicine and avoid the subject altogether.

Similarly, a person may be told that they are stupid and that they will never amount to anything. They may believe it and give up, and never apply themselves. Or they may defy it and work harder to prove it untrue.

Your genetics and your circumstances don't determine what you will be capable of. However, they do have an impact. Ignoring that would be an enormous mistake.

Having two mentally healthy parents in a stable home with many books and many adults that care about you in your community will give you a better chance at scoring higher on IQ tests.

Having a single parent that's drug addicted and bouncing from home to home with no books and no caring adults in your community gives you a lower chance of scoring higher on IQ tests.

Higher IQ is correlated with a whole bunch of benefits, like having higher income and life expectancy.

The original implementation of IQ was to identify which school children needed intervention to help them succeed. It was never supposed to be an indicator of human value. That we've done that to it is a shame. It's basically the best tool that we have to figure out which kids need the most help.

I haven't found research that confirms raising IQ improves outcomes. But I have a hard time believing that helping kids learn (if they wanted the help, at least) would hurt their outcomes.

End rant.

Edit: oh, and the belief in intelligence as an immutable genetic trait is only social darwinism if higher intelligence makes people more likely to reproduce, which it doesn't. That's the premise behind Idiocracy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25131282/

Calling someone "stupid" or "dumb" is all too common, especially online in places like Reddit and Twitter. I think it is a lazy and vacuous statement, or at best just a way to vent frustration.

It's much better, and more constructive, to be specific about what you find reprehensible. It could be that they have horrible morals, and calling them stupid is like a shorthand for saying that they are unable to reason through towards a consistent and correct set of moral principles. Or it could be that they have been indoctrinated into nasty world-views, and that their "stupidity" is exhibited as a failure to protect themselves from the indoctrination or escape it. Or they could be deliberately hurtful trolls who say outrageous and inflammatory things to upset others, in which case their "stupid" behavior is most likely an outward-facing reaction to some trauma in their own lives. Or maybe they are just sadistic, which warrants being called out specifically, and not just attributed to stupidity. A lot of anti-intellectual posturing seems to come from some combination of these causes.

Anyway, I feel like being specific about your criticisms not only promotes compassion (which is ultimately most likely to win over those we disagree with) but also prompts you to more thoughtfully reflect on your own positions.

This is a new interpretation for me. I always read it as resources for humans.

I laughed aloud when I first saw that episode of SpongeBob "Selling Out," where Karl takes over the Krusty Krab and he threatens Squidward with Human Resources. The Human resources guy isn't a human, nor are any of the employees, yet they have HR anyway. But still, HR guy is scary and another reason the crew lives their work lives in fear. As cheap as Mr. Krabs is as a manager, he always let Squidward and SpongeBob express themselves in their own personalities. Human resources sometimes tries to squash your individuality.

I think it's because "Gamer" make it part of your identity, instead of a hobby or something you do. It's like when people call me a cyclist, it makes it seem like it's the only thing I am when in reality I just use a bike to get around.

If someone calls themself a gamer I know they don't have much else going on. This is from someone that plays games.

Had a lit class many years ago where the professor was a self proclaimed feminist. The first day, she went off curriculum and had everyone reading some heavily propagandized literature. She was openly hostile towards any of the men in the class. Refused to answer any of their questions, belittled them, etc. I dropped it, and one of my best friends stayed in out of curiosity. A couple months later, he told me that she was failing every guy that was still there. Purely malicious and discriminatory.

That's been my experience with the more outspoken "feminists" I've met. Sorry if someone hurt you, I really, truly am, but being that sort of vindictive and malicious towards men doesn't make you a feminist. It makes you a sexist and every bit as bad as the assholes who treat women poorly.

How hard is it to just be good and respectful to everyone?

You have much faith in humanity if you think that is being done simply because they don’t know.

There’s plenty of manipulative assholes misusing it and trying to hide behind it to take advantage of someone with it. And you’ll see that manipulation in every group. Con artists are everywhere. Don’t blame the game. Blame the player.

Those are one-way communication channels though, engagement sounds like a pretty accurate way to describe the interaction you can have on social platforms, you show interest in some content and make that interest public by liking, sharing, etc.

They use engagement because to media companies, good or bad interactions are typically the same, ie engagement.

I think it's problematic when used in political contexts. Complex societal problems, like racism etc., are reduced to a feeling, thereby ignoring all the wider implications, histories and contexts while also reducing it to a mere individual problem.

Ugh. Farmers are not stupid people in the least but I'll be damned if even up to less than a century ago they are not always the ones thru history to be hoodwinked by the wealthy into some sort of rich man's scheme.

Porn denigrates women? Shocking!

Genuine question: is there a better term, beyond "heroine addicted people"? Because I can see how that's gotten shortened in casual conversation.

Everyone should watch painkiller on Netflix. It’s gutting but eye opening.

You wrote out one of those two words. I don’t think they are comparable.

Huh. TIL.

If you date a Nazi and he calls you a bimbo, that's on you for dating a Nazi. Never understood people demanding sympathy for this lmao

Yeah, that confused the heck out of me

Depends entirely on context if it's the same or not, but most often it means the English meaning, or just "slave" without racial connotation.

The only thing being shared is the expense on the drivers car.

Mood.

I disagree. Science people will burn you for mixing up the two but ‘in theory’ is a grammatically correct way to describe something that could possibly happen - In theory I’m going to eat three bagels today. That doesn’t mean I need to prove or have tested in the past that it’s doable.

‘Theoretically’ is another one, used to describe something they obeys some rules but is unlikely to happen. Theoretically my team will win today - no science in that one either.

Same but with "expert." I used to work at a company that held up all its talent as supposed experts in software engineering for its customers. They were all senior devs at best. I winced every time the general manager said it.

Holy shit, the feeds, the Fediverse, the feds, it's ALL CONNECTED!

Except that's entirely true.

I believe the etymology of that use hails from ticker tape feeds.

It’s been misused by so many people so many times that it’s lost all meaning

Agendas have been made to make people think they are filthy words.

I don't mind creatives because i don't know what else to call a group of people who do different creative things.

Spot on, depending on context it takes on slightly different meanings. I feel like its use to call out corporate pandering in order to paint themselves in a good/progressive way to the rest of the public eye, solely because they realized it would artificially boost their bottom line, is justified

The vast majority of people frothing about woke can't even begin to define it. I call them sleeple.

Why use lot word when few word do trick?

JFC watch better YouTubers. I haven't heard "smash that like button" in YEARS and it was a joke

I can only think of one that I watch who asks for likes/comments and he's always pretty clear that engagement boosts the algorithm and helps bring in the money needed to keep the channel going

The only reason they do it is because their analytics tell them it works. Same with the subscribed vs not subscribed graph that so many of them flash on screen nowadays. Granted the ones I watch at least get creative with the commentary surrounding that one.

"What's a dickfor?"

Praise the derriere!

Yeah cunt is really a very crude word, isn't it? I curse plenty, probably more than I ought to, and I don't generally use the word at all unless I'm describing a miserably shitty person. I'm sure my American heritage has an impact on my conditioning toward that word but I always grew up with it being a taboo word, even sometimes over slurs. You "don't say" cunt. I feel like the term has softened these last ten years or so, or maybe I'm just becoming more comfortable with it.

I still wouldn't ever use it sexually. It just feels degrading.

A vagina is a medical term. A pussy is a sexual vagina. Cunt? Almost feels like you're reducing the sex to something that somehow removes the woman from it. Like "a sexual plaything". I don't know, it's hard to describe.

Depends on how it's pronounced IMO. Hard "t" American style it's a very rude word. With a stop instead of the "t" like the British & Australians use it it's far less offensive, sort of becomes their all-purpose casual company pronoun.

I don’t think you understand the assignment

That's just Irish slang though

You'd be surprised at the number of Irish people that say feck. Not even sure FT invented it at this point.

We said it a lot in the 90s

Might just be where you're from. People definitely use freak as an insult irl.

You definitely would've had an NFT pfp on reddit

Found the consumer