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3/14/2019 4:20:24 PM
 
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Section 11: Tactical / Training Subject: Savage Bat Masterson Ad Msg# 1037772
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| Well put, Allan. I think Stu enjoys being open-minded to all the changing nuances of words, and that is a positive thing for which to strive, but as much as I admire him for that, I believe that in this case it's a misguided approach, for just the reasons you give. We are specifically trying to communicate in as simple a method as possible to (usually) newer shooters who will, almost always, take the meaning of the word from their customary understanding of words. And as you say, "press" Is most unlikely to communicate what we are trying to communicate, never mind that it is correct in some strict sense of the dictionary, which is really the only leg that Professor and Word Cop Stu has to stand on. | ||||||
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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... |
