Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login"

Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by nulbyte on Monday May 27, 2024 @06:48PM (#40495513)

If you think two different words having different meanings is difficult, wait 'til you hear about contranyms! English is full of words like these, where context is needed to understand the meaning.

If something is fast, it moves quickly or not at all. Cocktails can be garnished, but so can wages. Sales or trade of a product could be sanctioned by one country, but sanctioned by another.

I generally think it is a good thing to communicate clearly. Sometimes that means using words differently to explain something. Other times, that means using words the same way as others. I think this is a case of the latter.

Also, I think the idea of "native speaker" is a bit of a red flag. There are plenty of people that speak English from birth but are utterly unintelligible, and there are plenty of people that speak English as a second language who speak more clearly than those.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by JadeNB on Monday May 27, 2024 @09:17PM (#40496445)

Something can be held fast, but I don't think it is usual English to say that something fixed is fast.

Garnishment of wages is garnisheeing, though here I'll agree "garnishing" seems to be acceptable too.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by rout39574 on Monday May 27, 2024 @09:44PM (#40496590)

Something "made fast" is perfectly reasonable usage for tying it in place.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by Riseed on Monday May 27, 2024 @10:16PM (#40496754)

Yep. And something "made fast" is also perfectly reasonable usage for vastly upgrading its speed. "Fast" can absolutely be a contronym.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by wolfram74 on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @09:17AM (#40500455)

I think two-word contranyms are more concrete, like "fight together".

Oversight is a less ambiguous example of a single-word contranym.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by benwills on Monday May 27, 2024 @09:49PM (#40496613)

I've heard "fast" as a contranym to "moving quickly," referenced as "to fast" or "fasting." ie: not eating at all.

Edited to add: Sticking with the context of food, "fasting from food" contradicts someone being a "fast eater."

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by riehwvfbk on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @09:09AM (#40500397)

"Fasten your seatbelt" doesn't usually mean "twirl it wildly above your head".

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by matt-attack on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @12:22AM (#40497289)

When I'm at a restaurant and I don't see anything I like, I just order something "off the menu".

When I'm at a restaurant and I like everyone I see, I order something "off the menu".

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by balex on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @03:32AM (#40498329)

So essentially you order off the menu based on your surroundings?

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by scoot on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @12:43PM (#40502679)

The first is "off-menu", and the second (for which I don't think you meant "everyone") is "from the menu". So, no...

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by fshbbdssbbgdd on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @05:20PM (#40505738)

People really do say they “ordered something off the menu” when they found the item on the menu. I believe I could usually distinguish the two meanings if I heard a recording. If the item is not on the menu, the word “off” would be stressed.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by averageRoyalty on Friday May 31, 2024 @05:26PM (#40540446)

In Australian english, "off the menu" is perfectly normal vernacular in non formal settings.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by krakrnews on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @03:10AM (#40498190)

I sanction this comment.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by thfuran on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @08:14AM (#40499920)

>wait 'til you hear about contranyms! English is full of words like these, where context is needed to understand the meaning.

It is, unfortunately, possible for more than one thing to be bad at a time.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by BobaFloutist on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @11:37AM (#40501797)

Sanction and nonplus are the most insane examples, because sometimes it's literally not possible to figure out from the context which of the two opposite meanings is intended.

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Re:Instead of "auth", we should say "permissions" and "login" by janalsncm on Tuesday May 28, 2024 @09:19PM (#40507266)

> Also, I think the idea of "native speaker" is a bit of a red flag

I assume you mean “red herring”. Red flag just means a sign that something is wrong.

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