The word 'Theory'

drumbeat

Registered Senior Member
Something in this post made me wonder....
That's our own bloody fault. The definition of a theory in science is a hypothesis that has been proven true beyond a reasonable doubt. Unfortunately the word is also used in mathematics to mean something which is absolutely true. It's also used by police detectives to mean a hunch.

Worse yet, our own people come up with names like String Theory, which isn't a theory at all, merely a promising hypothesis.

So it's no wonder that laymen are confused.


The word 'theory' seems to be confused a lot and is generally considered to mean "an unproven idea" by most people in the English speaking world, when in fact it is used differently in various fields. The biggest example of this being negative is people dismissing evolution because it is a 'theory'.

I am wondering if this may be an English problem only, due to the fact other languages may use extra words for the different meanings. Can anyone enlighten me with some translations?




Feel free to add other word confusions that may exist. Thanks to Fraggle Rocker for the post.
 
What about the word 'god' (deity, higher being)?

Many people confuse god with God, in a Christian sense.
 
There is a good chance of it the english language is probaly the dumbest language their is
No, it just seems that way to you because you write like a five-year-old. There are six errors in a post with only seventeen words.
  • 1. There should be a period after "it".
  • 2. The following "the" should be capitalized. These are really two sentences.
  • 3. "English" must always be capitalized unless you're talking about the sports term for a spinning ball.
  • 4. Misspelling of "probably."
  • 5. "Their" in place of "there".
  • 6. No period after the end of the second sentence.
I don't normally complain about writing errors as long as we can understand the writing. But it is ridiculous for you to criticize a language that you barely know.
 
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