# Words imposed on us which we do not need **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707 "2024-09-03T23:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/101 "2024-09-16T14:14:18Z")
From the first Google [hit](https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/) on the term: “Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” You know, being a standard grounded human. The meditation aspect is not a “more towards” aspect AFICT. Many mindfulness folks don’t even mention it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/102 "2024-09-16T14:16:54Z")
> **[Mindfulness](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness)** > > Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through meditation, of sustaining meta-attention towards the contents of one's own mind in the present moment.\[note 1\]\[web 1\] Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques.\[note 2\] Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions describe what constitutes mindfulness, Clinical psychology and psychi... That’s how I’m familiar with it through therapy, rehab, and even my children’s school curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/103 "2024-09-16T14:26:02Z")
I suppose we could define mindfulness as the opposite of “multi-tasking and doom-scrolling TokTok while walked across a busy street oblivious to traffic.” The opposite of habitual addictive distractedness. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/104 "2024-09-16T14:47:10Z")
It’s quite a useful concept for me and not something that necessarily comes naturally as part of being a normal human. It’s deliberate and various techniques work for me in various situations where I get stressed out. I first encountered it doing rehab for my alcohol abuse disorder, and it’s stuck with me. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) also uses it like this in these ten techniques: [https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/mindfulness/](https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/mindfulness/) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/105 "2024-09-16T14:51:18Z")
I have no objection to _favorited_. Language evolves. Words take on new specialized meanings. Nouns get verbed. An old noun _favorite_ has gained a new sense, in computer terms, and verbing it is a natural evolution. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/106 "2024-09-16T14:59:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > Does it have a present and future tense, too? > > Why wouldn’t it? It was kind of a rhetorical question. Since “favourited” isn’t a real word, how do we know how to form the present tense? How about the present participle – is “favouriting” a word? How about the progressive tense? Can someone say “I have been favouriting country music videos” without sounding like there’s something wrong with them? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/107 "2024-09-16T15:01:38Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Since “favourited” isn’t a real word It surely is now. Hell, I use it. But I suspect you have a different idea of what a “real word” is than I do. For me, it’s any word that is used and understood by a large group of people. Oxford languages regards it as a word. Type “define: favorite” in your search bar: > [@](#): > > […] > > _verb_ > > 1. record the address of (a website or other data) to enable quick access in future. > > “you can see who else favorited the same pictures” > [@wolfpup](#): > > Can someone say “I have been favouriting country music videos” without sounding like there’s something wrong with them? As someone who uses and likes the word, sure! Once again, why not? If you need some help, here’s a conjugation chart: > **[favorite - Conjugation of the verb “favorite” | schoLINGUA](https://www.scholingua.com/en/en/conjugation/favorite)** > > Conjugation of "favorite". Conjugate over 20,000 English verbs and get useful information (synonyms, example sentences, etc.) ... In the wild: [https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/j707vv/same\_person\_favorites\_shop\_over\_and\_over/](https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/j707vv/same_person_favorites_shop_over_and_over/) > [@](#): > > Hi guys, so I was wondering how to explain the following behavior: over the past 1,5/2 month the same person, another seller, has been favoriting my shop over and over (I stopped counting). (Sorry, that’s “has been favoriting” not “have been favoriting” but same idea.) In other words, it works like any other normal regular verb. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/108 "2024-09-16T15:26:50Z")
I admit that the evil has spread. But we’re discussing “words imposed on us which we do not need”, and the appropriation of “favourite” as a verb, in any tense, is a prime example. I’ll also note that the Oxford definition (“record the address of [a website or other data] to enable quick access in future”) is the exact definition of a bookmark in the context of computers. I assume that the intended meaning of “favourited” is not quite the same as “bookmarked”, but Oxford Languages doesn’t seem to know that. Or else why invent a clumsy new word when there already is one? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/109 "2024-09-16T15:27:57Z")
I agree that their definition can be refined. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/110 "2024-09-16T15:31:21Z")
I think this duality has historical reasons. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer always called saved links “favorites”, while Netscape and later most successors called them “bookmarks”. ETA: these days, I almost always use Chrome as my browser, and it calls them bookmarks. I fired up Edge, and saw that MS still calls them favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/111 "2024-09-16T15:37:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > MacOS also uses “restart.” So where the hell does “reboot” come from? I’ve even had my IT guy - who knows I am a semi-sentient primate when it comes to computers - tell me to reboot. Makes me want to kick the damn laptop across the room so I can then “reboot” it. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I mean, you’ve heard of booting up the computer, right? Sure. But what does that mean? Turning it on from a dead state? Or hitting Cntrl/Alt/Delete? > [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s a short form of “bootstrapping” (lifting yourself by your own bootstraps) and refers to the process by which a sequence of more primitive operations automatically bring a computer up to a fully operational state. For PCs it will be the BIOS that loads and executes initialization code, for larger computers it may be something like an entire minicomputer whose sole job is to perform the necessary initializations for the larger one. I appreciate the explanation. But seriously, up-to-date tech is referring to freaking BOOTSTRAPPING? Archaic much? People talk a lot about language developing through common (mis)usage. Perhaps if the most common operating systems us terms like restart and shut down, tech nerds ought to give up on bootstrapping. And all your talk (intended to be helpful) about BIOS (whatever the fuck THAT is) and loading and executing intialization code is gibberish to someone who WANTS to remain ignorant about how the damn computer works, but only wants the damn thing to start up and do the same thing every time I press the specified buttons. Same way I don’t need to know what goes on under the hood when I turn the key/press the button, or whether my accelerator is mechanically connected to the throttle. I - and I suspect the vast majority of drivers - simply want to know that when they press down on that pedal, the car will go faster. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/112 "2024-09-16T15:38:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > So where the hell does “reboot” come from? I’ve even had my IT guy - who knows I am a semi-sentient primate when it comes to computers - tell me to reboot. Makes me want to kick the damn laptop across the room so I can then “reboot” it. Because that was the standard term I’ve always heard as a computer user. That (and “boot (up)”) is what we used in grammar school, high school, college. I never use the term “restart,” nor does my wife. If something goes haywire on the computer, I always ask her “have you tried rebooting?” not “restarting.” I mean, we use all sorts of older terminology like “dial” and “pick up.” If your cell phone is ringing and somebody tells you to pick it up, do you not know that merely picking it up, as in the old days, will not answer the phone? You also have to press the “accept call” button or whatever. Hell, you might not even have to physically pick it up, either. Yet, “pick up the phone” in modern parlance conveys that meaning as well, without explicit direction. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/113 "2024-09-16T15:39:57Z")
Like when “bookmark” only became a verb in **1985**. Why are we using such a clumsy word to describe computers? We aren’t marking any books. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/114 "2024-09-16T15:42:28Z")
I’m sorry, what’s a “hood” and “throttle”? “Press a pedal”? Is that something you do with a key? I want to remain ignorant about cars. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/115 "2024-09-16T15:46:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Because that was the standard term I’ve always heard as a computer user. First off, I never saw a computer until I was in high school, when there were a couple in a single room occupied by the computer club. Not sure I touched one until I was in law school. OK, so explain to me as tho I am as ignorant as I am. You come to a computer that is turned off. Does pressing the on button “boot” it? Then you might be required to enter your user info, then maybe join a network. Then you get to the Cntrl/Alt/Del window. To me, all of those are simply turning the computer on. At what specific step are you booting it. Or, are you speaking only of coming upon a computer that is up and running, with the cntrl/alt/del page showing? If reboot is such a wonderful term worth keeping, why are little folk like Microsoft and Apple choosing to use the term restart? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/116 "2024-09-16T15:48:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I’m sorry, what’s a “hood” and “throttle”? > > “Press a pedal”? Is that something you do with a key? > > I want to remain ignorant about cars. Assuming that is an attempt at humor, it is lost on me. Many (most?) people know enough about cars to drive them competently and reliably, while knowing very little about their mechanics/electronics… AFAIK, states/countries test drivers on driving, not vehicle construction and repair. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/117 "2024-09-16T15:49:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If something **goes haywire** on the computer Speaking of strange terms … ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/118 "2024-09-16T15:50:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Then you get to the Cntrl/Alt/Del window I have no clue what you are talking about. Why are you pressing Ctrl/Alt/Del when turning on the machine? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/119 "2024-09-16T15:50:43Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Does pressing the on button “boot” it? Yes. Turning it on starts the boot process. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Or, are you speaking only of coming upon a computer that is up and running, with the cntrl/alt/del page showing? I would call that “rebooting,” though “restarting” may be more technically correct, see below. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > If reboot is such a wonderful term worth keeping, why are little folk like Microsoft and Apple choosing to use the term restart? Restarting technically also includes closing all applications and getting the computer in the proper state before initiating the reboot. I use “reboot” just for the same reason I “dial” a phone. It’s what everyone I know has always used. It would never have occurred to me that “reboot” is an archaic or obscure phrase. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707/120 "2024-09-16T16:14:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And all your talk (intended to be helpful) about BIOS (whatever the fuck THAT is) and loading and executing intialization code is gibberish to someone who WANTS to remain ignorant about how the damn computer works, but only wants the damn thing to start up and do the same thing every time I press the specified buttons. It surely can’t be difficult to infer that “reboot” and “restart” are (almost) the same thing, or at least they’re used interchangeably so often that they may as well mean the same thing. If one was inclined to nitpick, a restart is when you tell the OS to initiate a shutdown followed by a restart, whereas a reboot might technically be inferred to mean a complete power-down, followed by a manual startup via the power button. On some rare occasions a hard reboot might fix a problem that a restart won’t. Although you profess to want to remain ignorant about computers, I’ll just add for the benefit of interested readers that the bootstrapping metaphor became deeply ingrained in computing culture because it’s so fundamental to how computer software is built. Some early computers were so “dumb” that in order to start them, you needed to start two kinds of program loaders. The first one was very simple and very inefficient, and its sole job was to load a paper tape containing a much more efficient loader. That second loader was then used to load the actual program you wanted to run. Bootstrapping! Another example was when a clever language (LISP) was developed for doing AI programming. The language was pretty complex and the easiest way to implement it was by writing an interpreter, which processed the lines of code over and over again to produce the desired output. As a result, it was extremely slow, because the machine wasn’t executing any of the instructions directly. But LISP was very good at symbol manipulation, so it was ideal for writing a LISP compiler – a program that would translate LISP code directly into machine code. When this was written and debugged, the first task for the new LISP compiler was … to compile itself! Thereby creating an efficient machine-language LISP compiler that nobody actually directly wrote. Bootstrapping! > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Like when “bookmark” only became a verb in **1985**. Why are we using such a clumsy word to describe computers? We aren’t marking any books. > [@wolfpup](#): > > There are certainly instances in which new verbs – or new words in general – need to be invented because they represent important new ideas. The act of “favouriting” is not one of them, in my view. Not much to add to what I already said. Moving “bookmark” into the web-browsing context and making it a verb is a useful extension to the language because it’s a very apt analogy. Have you ever heard me complaining about it? I was using the web from its earliest days and never had a second thought about the concept of a browser “bookmark”. “Favourited”? Not so much. Pisses me off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-imposed-on-us-which-we-do-not-need/1006707.md?page=7)