"Crypto" Is Being Redefined as Cryptocurrencies | Hacker News Reader

"Crypto" Is Being Redefined as Cryptocurrencies

schneier.com

15 pointsakvadrako17 comments

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I don't like it either.

I also don't like that "literally" now means "figuratively", or using the plural "their" to mean "him or her".

But we don't get to dictate how language is used.

How language is used dictates what is acceptable.

So get over it, Schneier, language is alive.

And to a non-native speaker maybe the English terms 'butt dial' and 'booty call' should have been better chosen. Language evolution knows no obvious master, and getting angry over that evolution as if a particular domain of study has ownership of a subset of words is ridiculous.

But neither of those composite terms is clobbering a preexisting meaning. Whilst their meanings may not be clear at first encounter they can be quickly and unambiguously determined using a dictionary.

In fact I had to look up booty call just now and understand immediately the difference.

Whereas "Switzerland should become crypto capital" can mean different things to different people simultaneously. That's the problem. If I look up crypto in a notional 2018 dictionary and it has two definitions, which do I choose?

If someone said "crypto capital" I would immediately think "hidden capital" ala "crypto-Jews" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto-Judaism

Indeed. As upsetting as it may be to have ambiguity introduced into the terms of your domain, you're never going to stop it. Better to focus your efforts on what you can control: your own choice of terms.

The term cryptography has always left out the critical importance of operational security and correct implementation and usage of cryptography. Instead of trying to protect "crypto", which is never going to happen, we can choose to use a different term, maybe even one which encompasses a fuller range of concerns. Data security, InfoSec, communication privacy...

I don't know what the best term would be, but "crypto" is never going to go back to unambiguously referring to cryptography. Terms must always adapt to changes around them. "Silent movie" wasn't a term before "talkies" came around. They just called them "movies".

The first definition of “hacker” in my dictionary is “a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data”. So there’s that...

Cryptographers have invited this by using "crypto" to mean "cryptography/cryptographic" in the first place. Without this meaning, "cryptocurrency" couldn't have formed and been shortened to "crypto".

Maybe it is a stupid name, but the prefix 'crypto' and its usage are not the exclusive domain of cryptographers. Perhaps thinking of crypto-currencies as mimics of real currencies is appropriate ;)

Similar to what happened to "meme," the original meaning of which is way more interesting than the current most popular meaning.

right, so we call them ??????. there isn't a better name

I sometimes use Cryptos (plural) but usually I use Cryptocurrency (generic) or Cryptocurrencies (to emphasize the variety).

Cryptocurrencies or cryptocoins.

both are shortened to 'crypto'. not good choices

They're only shortened if you don't know what you're talking about.

most people into cryptocoins don't know what they 're talking about

Wasted energy.

wasties

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