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3/13/2019 9:36:00 PM
 
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Section 11: Tactical / Training Subject: Savage Bat Masterson Ad Msg# 1037719
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Disagree all you want, I'm sticking with my thoughts on the semantic aspects and basic definitions. There are situational connotations to every word, of course - just look at the word "gay"!
You can't push and pull something at the same time with the same finger. We can agree on that, I think. Press and push are close relatives... Here we part company. The origin of "push": Middle English (as a verb): from Old French pousser, from Latin pulsare ‘to push, beat, pulse’ (see pulse1). The early sense was ‘exert force on’, giving rise later to ‘make a strenuous effort, endeavor’. That of "press": Middle English: from Old French presse (noun), presser (verb), from Latin pressare ‘keep pressing’, frequentative of premere . ...while pull and retrieve belong to the same family. Some words just don't feel right and in this instance "press" feels backwards... If it doesn't feel right, don't use it but that doesn't make it wrong. I really don't see the problem; a trigger will only respond to pressure in one direction. If a student is too dumb to figure that out maybe he should take up something simpler than shooting, like maybe whack-a-mole? Stu |
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For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: You know me, I'm still going to disagree... 
When people read they don't just look at the clinical definition of a word, they can't help also factoring in the word's common use. So, how is "press" used overall? The first line in my synonym finder under "press" used as a verb reads: force, push, drive, ram, shove, elbow... nothing there like what we do to a trigger. We owe it to readers to be as precise and concise as we can when using the language to express ideas and provide information. Why use an ambiguous term that can be twisted to mean what you want to say when there is already a precise word in general use that cannot be misunderstood? Why risk confusion? You can't push and pull something at the same time with the same finger. Press and push are close relatives while pull and retrieve belong to the same family. Some words just don't feel right and in this instance "press" feels backwards... |
