Let’s take this on just as soon as we clear up the confusion about what constitutes a “battery.”
I don’t think it has to do with stupidity. Everyone knows that a tuna is a fish, but a lot of people call it tuna fish.
And not only are they uptight, they’re wrong too! Really stop and think about how many times you’ve heard the phrase “ATM machine.” How many of them were people complaining about “ATM machine” and how many of them were real uses of the phrase in conversation?
Because I’ve never heard anyone say “ATM machine” who wasn’t bitching about how stupid it sounds.
Cans of tuna will usually say “Contains fish” though as an allergy warning, which is silly, same for a jar of peanuts: “Contains nuts/peanuts” (at least you know it really is tuna or peanuts).
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I don’t know about ATM machine, but I can tell you PIN number and VIN number are constantly used. Hell, the only time I just say PIN is when I’m consciously trying to avoid saying PIN number, which isn’t often.
But you know what really chaps my stick? L.E.D. Come on, people, TLAs are not that new any more, and conversation is filled with them these days. Putting the periods in is an archaic affectation that complicates sentence punctuation, adds extra typing, and just looks stodgy and old.
I can kind of forgive people for the PIN number redundancy, because in certain contexts, it may actually remove ambiguity, since pin and pen are actual English words. ATM machine is always a waste of breath and people who say it should be euthanized promptly.
Amen. Imitation peanuts are the worst.
It’s actually people who object to the usage who are stupid, since there’s nothing wrong with the usage. Language is often redundant, and complaining about this usage only means that you’re trying to show off how smart you are (without knowing anything a bout the subject involved).
The fact is, that everyone understand the term “LED light,” so there’s no logical basis to say it’s wrong or stupid, other than to be pointlessly pedantic.
But some people still eat them.
Thank you. I work in the Lighting Industry, most specifically with lamps, and people look at me like I’m brain dead because I use “lamp” instead of “lightbulb” now
“A light” (as opposed to “light”) is anything that serves chiefly to provide illumination. A light-emitting diode is a diode that emits light, whatever you intend to use it (the light or the diode) for.
Do you say, “I need to replace the lamp in my lamp”?