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by cardiffspaceman
2451 days ago
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If you step into the street in front of a truck while reading Hacker News on your phone, it's a mistake. You wouldn't have done it had you been paying attention. If you step into the street in front of a truck because you think the truck is farther away than it turns out to be, it's an error. If you are playing baseball, and you estimate the vector to intercept a ball rolling along, and you touch your glove to the ball but fail to actually catch it, it will be classified as an error, You made an estimate of what the circumstances were, and it was wrong and you acted on purpose. |
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Likewise their definition of mistake uses error a couple of times. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mistake
I get it though, there is a subtle difference. I'm just saying both terms mischaracterize (intentionally) what I think was likely a very intentional, knowing and calculated action by Twitter. I'm asserting without proof that there was no inattention as in your first example, and no miscalculation as in your second example.
The baseball example is problematic because "error" has a game-specific meaning just like "run" and "base," and whether you commit a mistake or an error, they will both be recorded as errors.