The very name of this site is a powerful argument to the contrary. Slashdotters initially dissed it, saying the word "hacker" (as in coder or builder as opposed to criminal) should be retired. Now the older sense of the word is widespread enough that people halfway around the world are aware of hackers in the sense that PG named this forum. Indie Hackers is only further cementing the reversal of the trend that once appeared inevitable.
Terms that flow and change too freely makes communication very difficult and often leads to people having pointless arguments due to fundamentally misunderstanding what each person is saying. And I do disagree that it's Sisyphean. Raising awareness can and does influence how words are used (especially within a group).
Currently "OOP" roughly means [Alan Kay's vision] or [Java-like]. That is an imprecise and mostly useless definition but it's the one it has, whether we like it or not. A stable terminology is desirable and that's why we shouldn't redefine "OOP".
Think of it like an API. What's more backwards-compatible: changing the behavior of oop() or deprecating it in favor of javaLikeProgramming() and kayProgramming() ?
It's kind of like introducing yourself as a compsci minor and then explaining OOP vs FP. I'd just leave off the creds, there's no need.
It's not a "flex," it's an honest contextualization of an anecdote. They certainly studied more linguistics than I did. I, uh... had a minor... crush on a linguistics major I met through the teaching union, and we had a few casual conversations about their thesis? Now that's a weird flex.
The point of their comment was not to introduce the well-known concept; it was to relay their impression of the culture that they experienced. Please be more charitable with folks' contributions here.
And for me it was eight classes, ~1 a semester.
In the case of "hacker" it has a different meaning in the media and the general population, but this is not a problem because the audience of HN understands the intended meaning.
But if we were in a situation where it mattered what other people I thought the word meant, then we would be fucked. And that is evident by just talking with regular folk and asking them what they think about hackers.
The situation with OOP is different. It is our community itself that uses the word incorrectly (according to some people, including the original commenter).
In our little bubble, perhaps. But I'm pretty sure that to my family and non-techie friends, "hacker" has only the negative meaning. That's why, when I tell them in general terms about what I'm doing during a hackathon at work, I don't use that word.
Just take what you believe is the better definition of OOP and rebrand it.