History Main / PersonalDictionary

* Extends into the real world as well, but "irony" at this point is substituted for pretty much any adjective.

** Notorious radical feminist Allecto (she of the essay declaring ''{{Firefly}}'' to be a rape infomercial) defined "rape" as any act of heterosexual sex. One of the few comments she [[OrwellianEditor didn't delete on sight for disagreeing) was a rant of utter fury about this... coming from an ''actual'' rape victim.

Not to be confused with {{Neologism}} which is making up words to ''add' to current dictionaries.

Compare NewSpeak, ImplausibleDeniability, ChewbaccaDefense and NoTrueScotsman (also covered in YouFailLogicForever). The PersonalDictionary is frequently invoked in order to justify FromACertainPointOfView.

** There's something similar with racism and sexism. The sociological definitions of both generally refer to a ''system'' of prejudice and privilege that may ''include'' race- or sex-based bigotry. The practical definition generally refers to just that last bit. Some people harp on the sociological definition, and use it to say that people from non-white ethnic groups ''can't'' be racist against whites, nor can women be sexist against men, and will insist that the general populace's definition is the wrong one. This is ignoring things like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Denny_incident the Reginald Denny incident]], or the statistically verifiable bias in the divorce court system towards mothers[[hottip:*:And the latter is even a systemic bias, so it qualifies]], or the TheUnfairSex trope. Naturally, this sort of thing is often used to defend their own bigotry, often mocking people who point it out. ([[MemeticMutation "Gosh it's so hard being white, middle-class, and male!"]])

** Even worse: [[WallBanger discussing whether atheism is a religion.]]

* Don't bring up the topic of what is or Isn't an {{Otaku}} online.

* Temple's a kind of castle. Everyone in the world knows that. [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/04/24/episode-983-a-clear-goal/ It's in the Sardapedia]].

* 'Odelay' ''is'' a word! Just look it up in the [[{{Futurama}} Becktionary!]]

* [[StephenieMeyer Chagrin.]]

->"''It would seem that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else."''

* [[MadMathematician Paul Erdös]], though it was simply his idiosyncratic word choice rather than an attempt to obfusicate matters. For a sampling:

* "Homophobic" often seems to include anyone who thinks homosexuality is wrong, regardless of whether they are tolerant or not, or have negative feelings about it.

* Car manufacturers indulge in this a lot; "Hatchback" sounds cheap and basic to "Generation Jones"? "Wagon"�reminds 35-50-year old women of vinyl-upholstered, wood-paneled Country Squires? "Minivan" makes young women fear they've turned into the very "suburban yuppie soccer moms" they've loathed all their life? Then let's try "crossover", or maybe just "five-door".

** Alternately, he might have been using "religious" to mean "about religion" rather than "expressing belief in religion". That's not exactly the same as the usual meaning of the word "religious", but it's probably too close for this trope. "I, Robot" alone includes a story where hyperspace passed through the afterlife (which only parodically resembled the afterlife of any popular religions) and another where robots worshipped the hardware they maintain like a god.
** Hyperspace didn't "pass through" the afterlife, it was that in order to pass through hyperspace a human being ceases to exist briefly. This state is similar enough to being truly DEAD that it fucks up some powerful robot minds doing the calculations on how to make a functional hyperspace drive (Asimov's Robots cannot by action or inaction allow a human being to come to harm). This trope actually applies particularlly well to this short story as the solution to the problem involves very carefully instructing a robotic mind on how to define and consider "death" while working on the necessary calculations.

* [[MadMathematician Paul Erdős]], though it was simply his idiosyncratic word choice rather than an attempt to obfusicate matters. For a sampling:

** The USA was "Samland," the USSR "Joedom," and Israel "Isreal."

* Terry Goodkind (author of ''{{Sword of Truth}}'') thinks the definition of "{{fantasy}}" is [[SciFiGhetto a lack of philosophical discussions and ideas]], when all the rest of us thought that such a lack defined "light fiction", while "fantasy" defined a setting. Now while some definitions combine the two, fantasy has not been automatically light fiction since ''LordOfTheRings''.

** Even worse: {{WallBanger discussing whether atheism is a religion.}}

You're trying to convince people on a message board that a [[{{Complaining}} politician you don't like]] is a fascist (this could apply to just about any major political party). They aren't buying it. Well, the dictionary is irrefutable, so you look up fascism.

Damn it! This politician's policies don't fit the definition of fascism at all!

Wait... That's just their definition of fascism, not yours. Of course [[YouFailLogicForever people think the label of fascism is bad, and not the actual definition]], so you just make the label apply, and you magically make everyone believe you.

* Deconstructed in ''TheUnbearableLightnessOfBeing'', where a few chapters, labeled "A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words," center around the different connotations and meanings certain words have to certain characters, and how these slightly different meanings lead to relationship problems.

* [[MadMathematician Paul Erdos]], though it was simply his idiosyncratic word choice rather than an attempt to obfusicate matters. For a sampling:

** The USA was "samland," the USSR "joedom," and Israel "isreal."

** IIRC, hyperspace didn't "pass through" the afterlife, it was that in order to pass through hyperspace a human being ceases to exist briefly. This state is similar enough to being truly DEAD that it fucks up some powerful robot minds doing the calculations on how to make a functional hyperspace drive (Asimov's Robots cannot by action or inaction allow a human being to come to harm). This trope actually applies particularlly well to this short story as the solution to the problem involves very carefully instructing a robotic mind on how to define and consider "death" while working on the necessary calculations.
*** Unfortunately, they went a LITTLE too far, and gave the robotic mind a bit of a snap.

** There's something similar with racism and sexism. The sociological definitions of both generally refer to a ''system'' of prejudice and privilege that may ''include'' race-/sex-based bigotry. The practical definition generally refers to just that last bit. Some people harp on the sociological definition, and use it to say that people from non-white ethnic groups ''can't'' be racist against whites, nor can women be sexist against men, and will insist that the general populace's definition is the wrong one. This is ignoring things like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Denny_incident the Reginald Denny incident]], or the statistically verifiable bias in the divorce court system towards mothers[[hottip:*:And the latter is even a systemic bias, so it qualifies]], or the TheUnfairSex trope. Naturally, this sort of thing is often used to defend their own bigotry, often mocking people who point it out. ([[MemeticMutation "Gosh it's so hard being white, middle-class, and male!"]])

-->'''Thief''': That's all this book says. Over and over, for hundreds of pages.

** There's something similar with racism and sexism. The sociological definitions of both generally refer to a ''system'' of prejudice and privilege that may ''include'' race-/sex-based bigotry. The practical definition generally refers to just that last bit. Some people harp on the sociological definition, and use it to say that people from non-white ethnic groups ''can't'' be racist against whites, nor can women be sexist against men. This is ignoring things like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Denny_incident the Reginald Denny incident]], or the statistically verifiable bias in the divorce court system towards mothers[[hottip:*:And the latter is even a systemic bias, so it qualifies]], or the TheUnfairSex trope. Naturally, this sort of thing is often used to defend their own bigotry, often mocking people who point it out. ([[MemeticMutation "Gosh it's so hard being white, middle-class, and male!"]])

* Egregious. Which probably doesn't look like a word anymore to most Tropers.

** Alternately, he might have been using "religious" to mean "about religion" rather than "expressing belief in religion". That's not exactly the same as the usual meaning of the word "religious", but it's probably too close for this trope. "I, Robot" alone includes a story where hyperspace passed through the afterlife (which only parodically resembled the afterlife of any popular religions) and where robots worshipped the hardware they maintain like a god.

* Car manufacturers indulge in this a lot; "Hatchback" sounds cheap and basic to "Generation Jones"? "Wagon"reminds 35-50-year old women of vinyl-upholstered, wood-paneled Country Squires? "Minivan" makes young women fear they've turned into the very "suburban yuppie soccer moms" they've loathed all their life? Then let's try "crossover", or maybe just "five-door".

* The phrase "MarySue" tends to have a shifting [[PersonalDictionary Personal Definition]] that covers just about any character that [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike somebody feels like complaining about]]. Uses as per it's original meaning are rare.