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Author: TTurtle

Sep 25th 2011 at 8:34:14 AM

To be honest, I think that even if you leave the issue of cranky Catholics out, the answer is still the same: we are better off using the word the way the dictionary does, rather than promoting a nonstandard definition. Purgatory and limbo simply aren't synonyms in the English language, not if you are looking at their recognized uses. (Even the Urban Dictionary, of all things, bears this out.) Using preexisting terms is great, but not if our definition conflicts with the most common definitions of the words.

In English, the word "purgatory" means a temporary process or place of punishment, suffering, cleansing, etc. It does not mean any neutral afterlife that comes between Heaven and Hell. The word may be used that way colloquially, but that usage is not widely accepted. (Now, Limbo, on the other hand, does have a more general definition: "an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place." This is still only the third or fourth definition, though.) If we want to have a single trope for IntermediateAfterlife, it would be better to give it a neutral and descriptive name, then talk about the different kinds of intermediate afterlife, which include but aren't remotely limited to the traditional definitions of purgatory and limbo.

Really, what argument can you make for naming the trope after a nonstandard use of a preexisting term? Isn't that setting the trope up for either confusion or conflict? It would be one thing if the trope were named {{Purgatory}} before anyone  had pointed out the flaw in the name or suggested alternatives, but that's clearly not the case here. And, as I said, you can you leave Catholicism out of it. All you have to do is point out that the dictionary does not support the proposed use of the word. We're not bound by the dictionary, obviously, but I thought that we generally did try to avoid using preexisting words in ways that are different from their primary use outside the wiki.