Science Memes

20648 readers

1355 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Meta Post Tags

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.

See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.

Research Committee

!spiders@lemmy.world

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz

fossilesque@mander.xyz

SciBot@mander.xyz

fossilesque@lemmy.dbzer0.com

187

oh no (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I understand that in a general sense, but it doesn't make sense to call literally every anti-trans person a 'TERF' when we already have a name for what that is.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Why not? English is full of synonyms. It doesn't matter whether you think it "makes sense". Why waste the effort attacking word choice when you knew exactly what they were trying to communicate?

Linguistic prescriptivism is nonsense, you personally not liking how a word is used does not make that usage incorrect.

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Except that the word TERF is an acronym that literally includes the word "feminist". Typically TERFs are women who specifically exclude trans women from women focused organizations and activities. It is a specific thing that does NOT adequately represent what Dawkins is. It is not Linguistic prescriptivism to understand what words mean, even if you are too stupid to understand it.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What you're describing there is an etymological fallacy, a surprisingly literal one at that. By that logic the word "literal" should only refer to written text since it originated from the Latin word for letter, as in alphabet characters. Words' meanings are defined by how they're used, you're complaining about how the word is being used, and you claim anyone using it doesn't understand the meaning of the word. That is prescriptivism.

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 0 points 2 months ago

This might be the dumbest shit I have read today. Congratulations on that. Maybe just spend this energy not saying stupid shit in the first place?