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Author: shimaspawn

Sep 21st 2011 at 12:29:38 AM

Not every work that contains purgatory is talking about the Catholic term. I've frequently seen it completely detached especially when looking at works from other cultures or from people who aren't religious. It's part of the public conciousness.  Works made by people who aren't particularly devout tend to blur things.  They'll use words however they feel like no matter what some people may think the correct definition is.  I understand what you're saying, but that doesn't make it right.  Words evolve beyond their etymology constantly.  Just because one group has one definition of things doesn't make it the only possible definition.

You seem almost irrationally fixated on sticking strictly to one definition which isn't consistently used by fiction, the thing we're documenting.  That's not helpful.  That just interjects large amounts of myopia into the trope and makes people rule out good examples because they don't fit into your narrow mind.

You're really just acting irrational about this.  I have seen the two terms used interchangeably.  Even your VanHelsing example does that despite having tentative ties to Christianity.  The thing about fiction is, outside of the church, no one cares enough about the issue to worry about the terms besides you.