Comment by nandomrumber
8 days ago
> Not allowed
This phrasing needs to die.
Not allowed is something your parents imposed on you when you were a child.
You’re not allowed to have an ice cream, or you’re not allowed to hang out with that boy.
Laws don’t not allow anything, they only sometimes impose penalties if you’re caught breaking them.
> This phrasing needs to die.
If we're being annoying about language for no valid reason, I would say that a "phrasing" cannot "die", because a "phrasing" is not a living creature.
> Laws don’t not allow anything, they only sometimes impose penalties if you’re caught breaking them.
How does it work with your parents? Do they cast a spell that prevents you from hanging out with that boy? Nobody was "allowed" to smoke, and yet...
Fortunately for me, words are allowed to have more than one meaning.
die /dī/
intransitive verb
2. To cease existing, especially by degrees; fade.
I explicitly said I was being annoying for no valid reason. If you want to justify something here, you should probably justify that you weren't annoying for no valid reason.
Does your dictionary say that "not allowed" is specific to parents and children?
3 replies →
I consider businesses who do this to track customers naughty, and I find their behaviour childish (scriptkiddie level). Therefore, 'not allowed' is exactly the phrasing I like to use in this context, and readers are expected to understand this refers to legal status.
You should also consider not everyone on HN is a native speaker, and consider to focus on the content of posts instead of minor tangents.