The difference being, of course, that nobody would hear the words "fascist paedophile" and understand "community organizer who loves children." The problem there isn't that it somehow doesn't sound right, it's that it conveys a very specific meaning that isn't the one you (ostensibly) intend to be understood.
If you use the wrong words and yet make yourself effortlessly understood (not the case throughout here; it cost me some effort to parse "spacelight" and "flappy planes"), then "who cares if the words are wrong?" is a reasonably defensible position. And all the reasons that you should still care have to do with social convention, which while still very important is not about effective communication of verbal content.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 03:32 am (UTC)If you use the wrong words and yet make yourself effortlessly understood (not the case throughout here; it cost me some effort to parse "spacelight" and "flappy planes"), then "who cares if the words are wrong?" is a reasonably defensible position. And all the reasons that you should still care have to do with social convention, which while still very important is not about effective communication of verbal content.