Funny (political, religious) pictures
- Thread starter strawman
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Optimistic of him to think we'll make it four years
figmentPez
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figmentPez
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figmentPez
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figmentPez
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I don't know... IMO the activity is still rare enough, and the title generic enough (as opposed to the specialised roles the crew might have) that just being part if it still qualifies you.
Like you'd have no issue calling someone that was running a runner, even if they’re not a professional runner.
You don't think there's a meaningful distinction between an astronaut who is trained and acts as part of a spaceflight's crew and a passenger who spent some money and sits in a chair?
Is everyone who's ever travelled by plane a pilot, too?
Katy Perry doesn't meet the FAA definition of an astronaut. They changed it back in 2021 to deny Jeff Bezos the title.
Sure, just like how there is one between me or you running after the bus vs. Usain Bolt.
Is every astronaut a pilot, since that's also a job some of them have ?
This is a dumb argument (not yours specifically, the argument in general) because words have meaning.
Naut means sailor. Everyone here knows what a sailor is. Someone who goes on a cruise is not a sailor, but the crew running the ship are.
To use the plane analogy, pilot is a poor term but aeronaut is a real word that used to be used. Originally someone who piloted hot air balloons, people who fly airplanes would be classified as aeronauts but passengers would not.
And finally if you want to look to Miriam Webster, the definition of an astronaut is "Someone whose profession is to travel beyond the Earth's atmosphere."
So before they even qualified for the official, professional title by just being there...
Also, they changed the definition of what constitutes a commercial astronaut, showing that the title is already being segmented to better define what it means in what circumstances (like how you can be a hobbyist runner, an amateur boxer or a professional wrestler).
But it's going to take a while for the distinctions to make it into the popular consciousness... as shown by the very fact that y'all needed to even say that Perry isn't one (you'd never feel the need to say she's not a sailor, or an airman etc.).
Yes they do, and some even have 2 opposite meanings at the same time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym#English
Astronaut being someone that went to space is at least valid enough that people feel the need to correct it...
If language wasn't dumb like that we'd all still be speaking whatever the 1st language was...
Going by etymology would likely invalidate half the words we use for space stuff. Galaxy comes from milk, and should only refer to our own galaxy then.
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Ok, I take back what I said before. Your argument specifically is dumb.
And yet, if enough people use that definition, eventually it gets into the dictionary.
You know what they say about dumb stuff that works, right ?
EDIT: I mean, isn't the whole point of calling out Perry as not being an astronaut to not have the word astronaut become the next xerox ?
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