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by triceratops 54 days ago
That's the modern definition. The comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47880310 was about bans on usury since ancient times, when that term referred to the general practice of moneylending.

"In many historical societies including ancient Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, usury meant the charging of interest of any kind, and was considered wrong, or was made illegal."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

Low interest rates (i.e. freer moneylending aka more usury) increases house prices.
1 comments
ButlerianJihad 54 days ago
Payday loans are not illegal. By your definition, and Wikipedia's modern definitions, a payday or car-title loan is not exorbitant, and it is not usury. The payday loan shops around here are licensed, legitimate businesses working with regulated financial instruments.

> Low interest rates (i.e. freer moneylending aka more usury) increases house prices.

You just contradicted yourself. What is usury again? Low interest rates, freer moneylending, is "more usury"? You write in the present tense that freer moneylending and low interest rates are more usury than usury? Are the rates exorbitantly low? Is there an exorbitant number of customers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_lending

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triceratops 54 days ago
> Low interest rates, freer moneylending, is "more usury"?

In the ancient sense of the term, which this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47880310 used, all moneylending is usury.

More loans are approved and/or borrowers are approved for bigger loans in low interest rate environments. This leads to high house prices. Hence, the "more usury" comment that I wrote. In that one sentence I had the same ancient definition of usury in mind.

I hope you don't believe low interest rates = expensive houses is something I made up.

If you think I'm contradicting myself sure go on. I find it easy to hold two definitions of a word in my head and use the correct one in the right context. But I understand that not everyone can and some may find it confusing.

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ButlerianJihad 54 days ago
The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things.
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