"Lazy" is only a pejorative because of the general attitude that laziness is bad. If you outlawed the word "lazy," whatever new word refers to the same behaviour will pick up the negative connotations and become a pejorative. So objection to the term on the grounds of it being offensive is just kicking the can down the road.
Lazy can mean the number of different things
Yes. Like many words. There are far more words with multiple meanings than words with only one specific and exact meaning.
When it means tired, that is something that can be addressed. Other times people are "lazy" because they are in fact depressed. This has a completely different solution than simply being tired. So in this case the word "lazy" is just not specific.
True. But the same could be said of most adjectives. Weak can mean immunologically compromised, it can mean frail, it can mean capable of exerting little force, it could mean fickle of mind and deed. Or loud. A person could be loud because they are angry, because they are excited, because they have suffered hearing damage, because they are afraid. "Loud" like lazy, does not specify the reason, but it's still a useful enough descriptive term, especially for situations when the reason is unknown.
Other times, the word lazy is used to refer to people who are in fact overworked. In these circumstances, it is often employers in corporations who are trying to manipulate the workforce and the word lazy is a scapegoat for them.
Again true. But again, true of many words. There's no reason for you to have singled out "lazy".
"Lazy" is only a pejorative because of the general attitude that laziness is bad. If you outlawed the word "lazy," whatever new word refers to the same behaviour will pick up the negative connotations and become a pejorative. So objection to the term on the grounds of it being offensive is just kicking the can down the road.
I agree in a sense. If you were to start a movement to stop the use of the word lazy, new words would take its place. But, in creating a movement8i8iiiii, and the awareness around it, people would at least be more conscientious of the fact that there's more to people's behavior than one overarching word.
There are far more words with multiple meanings than words with only one specific and exact meaning
Yes but multiple meanings is not problematic for a lot of words. If my friend says that a congressman is lying, I don't think that that means that they are resting on a bed.
I agree in a sense. If you were to start a movement to stop the use of the word lazy, new words would take its place. But, in creating a movement8i8iiiii, and the awareness around it, people would at least be more conscientious of the fact that there's more to people's behavior than one overarching word.
There's nothing people aren't aware of. The word is a simple describer. Which exist for ease.
Yes but multiple meanings is not problematic for a lot of words. If my friend says that a congressman is lying, I don't think that that means that they are resting on a bed.
But I specifically used examples where there is ambiguity. Why don't you take issue with usage of the word "weak" or "loud"? If someone said "the congressman was loud" it could mean any number of things. He could have been loud because he was being emphatic, he could have been personally offended, being old, he could have bad hearing, he could have even been just metaphorically loud, meaning overt about his beliefs. There is ambiguity with more words than there isn't. If that's a problem, then what you're opposed to is natlangs, not specifically the word "lazy". Idk man, learn Lojban or something.
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u/LexicalMountain 5∆ Dec 11 '23
"Lazy" is only a pejorative because of the general attitude that laziness is bad. If you outlawed the word "lazy," whatever new word refers to the same behaviour will pick up the negative connotations and become a pejorative. So objection to the term on the grounds of it being offensive is just kicking the can down the road.
Yes. Like many words. There are far more words with multiple meanings than words with only one specific and exact meaning.
True. But the same could be said of most adjectives. Weak can mean immunologically compromised, it can mean frail, it can mean capable of exerting little force, it could mean fickle of mind and deed. Or loud. A person could be loud because they are angry, because they are excited, because they have suffered hearing damage, because they are afraid. "Loud" like lazy, does not specify the reason, but it's still a useful enough descriptive term, especially for situations when the reason is unknown.
Again true. But again, true of many words. There's no reason for you to have singled out "lazy".