• _danny@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Congratulations on learning that words have no intrinsic meaning, and the dictionary is constantly changing. Prescriptive linguistics is a hopeless battle.

      • NounsAndWords@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You gotta drop this one, friend. There are better hills to die on. Hills that don’t get you labeled a pedophile.

      • Dieterlan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think in this case the meaning is already effectively watered down. At this point it’d probably be easier to just give up and make a new term for pedophilia that is just for pre adolescents, and let pedophilia be the term for all “under age of consent” stuff (as is the current modern usage).

        • kungen@feddit.nu
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          1 year ago

          and let pedophilia be the term for all “under age of consent” stuff

          Then come the Germans and say that 14 is legal in their country.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Age of consent doesn’t matter in this context, it’s the difference in age that does. An 18 years old having sex with a 17 years old isn’t a pedophile. In Canada the age of consent is 16, if you’re 40 and having sex with a consenting 16 years old you’re still trialled as a pedo if the person changes their mind and press charges.

          • Dieterlan@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Luckily, I’m American so I can pretend Germany doesn’t exist, like I do the rest of the world 😘

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        God forbid we actually use words of correct colloquial meaning instead of watering down the subject of molesting teens.