[ghostoftiber]

I don't really understand this myself. Language is either comprised of loan-words, which are words which follow another language's rules, or it has its own rules for composing words. I tried a bunch of reloads and got plausible words, mostly following latin and greek word roots with some extra decorators. Lots of un- and -ers. Simply because the word isn't popular enough to be in a dictionary doesn't mean the word doesn't exist - if the word follows generally accepted rules of composition then the word surely does exist and it's easily grasped by someone who understands that language. This is why, for instance, John Dee, Shakespeare, etc "made up" words which were well understood.

I had fun, but I doubt the claim that "this word does not exist". :)

[goatlover]

A word only exists when other people start using the word. Language is social.

[nosianu]

And since we are now discussing it... okay? Sounds like a self-fulfilling condition to me, so how useful, or effectful, is it to make that kind of statement?

I'm with the OP, "the word does not exist" is rather meaningless. The dictionary follows the people, not the other way around, and as soon as we are discussing some word... yeah. This comes down to discussing definitions, and I have a good summary for that: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-... -- like "When can it be said that a certain word exists?" One person says as soon as they speak or write or read it, another one insist at least x% of the speakers of the language need to be aware of it and its meaning, etc. etc.

The problem is our arbitrary concepts, not rooted in physics for example, are especially useless near their edges, where they are not commonly used. That's where you end up with discussions about definitions, and you find out people actually only agree on some core of some concepts, the one actually in use, and when they reach new less visited meanings it becomes a free-for-all. That's also why religion is better off vague, as soon as they want to be as specific as possible the (unsolvable) arguments start flying and the unity provided earlier by what was a common idea is now gone.

On the other hand, such kinds of diffuse questions are sure to attract discussions. You don't need to know anything, everybody with an opinion can participate, and nobody can be proven wrong.

[ghostoftiber]

fr fr no cap bro

[asynchronous]

The title itself is merely a nod to the other AI generated sites like “thispersondoesnotexist” and so on. Don’t think too much was meant by it.