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by handity 511 days ago
Now that's just goofy, I get why they have similar names but it's begging for misunderstandings. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-metal_server
1 comments

Can't remember the name (if it has one), but there's a linguistic phenomenon where words take on opposite meanings from the original. The "Peacemaker" was a missile, "literally" now means "figuratively", "awful" used to mean "awe-inspiring". And apparently "bare metal" now means "runs on an operating system".
OTOH, technical fields develop jargon specifically as a solution to the problems created by semantic drift in vernacular vocabulary.

Sure, languages evolve, but that doesn't mean "anything goes" -- to the contrary, novel mutations have to survive intense selection pressures in order to eventually become part of the standard language.

Where new ways of using existing terms create ambiguity and conflict with existing meanings, their survival chances aren't always great.