Loose Language
Why do we use words so loosely? I know we have slang and cliches and so on. But I’m more specifically referring to our use of the word intuition (obviously!) in our everyday speech.
For example, if you perform a search of the word ‘intuition’ in Google and look at the news items that term appears in, you’ll find that the majority of them are using the term very loosely to indicate some means of explaining making a decision or performing an action. All they really have in common is that there is no apparent use of rational, logial and (by inference) slow thought. But is it really helpful to talk about a trader using his ‘gut instinct’ or intuition to make his “first big killing”? Or offering intuition as the main factor being appllied to state legislature? Or speaking of musicians playing by intuition again? Or an athlete believing that if she wanted to win a state title she had to focus on the high jump, and her intuition was correct?
I ask you, how are these uses of the terms ‘intuition’ helpful in explaining it easily to people? How is the varying use of such terms (which I’ve taken from a simple Google search) doing anything other than reinforce the opinion that intuition is a nebulous concept, mostly vague and without substance? It is used to explain something where the writer lacks adequate means to fully explore the action or it is beyond rational analysis (and therefore can be safely tucked away in the ’strange’ bin).
The use of the term ‘intuitin’ in these cases (and so many others like them) does no-one any good. It is not useful nor is it descriptive. It is merely a way of avoiding thinking
It’s easier than thinking, isn’t it?
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