Hacker News Reader

Comment by zzzcpan | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to move the definition, my definition is fine and is shared among many people. Yours is the one I think is wrong. You shouldn't imply that oligopoly is not a form of monopoly. It absolutely is.

View on HN

> You shouldn't imply that oligopoly is not a form of monopoly.

But the article said 'monopoly', not 'oligopoly'.

Monopoly is a form of oligopoly. But oligopoly is not a form of monopoly.

All monopolies are oligopolies. Not all oligopolies are monopolies.

This chicken situation is maybe an oligopoly. It isn't a monopoly.

If you think a situation with multiple supplies and limited competition is a monopoly, then I'd ask you... why do we also have the term oligopoly? What do you think the difference is?

> Where on earth did I imply oligopoly is not a form of monopoly?

> But oligopoly is not a form of monopoly.

This is wrong, sorry.

It's the other way around, since we are talking about market economies, not literal meanings of words.

What do you think a monopoly is? What would you definition be?

As I pointed out earlier, I think of markets on a scale between perfect competition and monopoly. Which I believe is common view. So anything can be described as monopoly if it's not competitive enough.

You can argue that all laypeople should use the terms that specialists use, or you can accept that people use words differently and try to understand people when they write/speak.

The latter is far, far easier and actually achievable.

This is the first time I've encountered people using the word monopoly incorrectly like this. I'm not really minded to just roll over and accept wrong usage because a few other people object - the usage is wrong so they need to improve their English.

Also for what it's worth I don't believe the article author misunderstands the word monopoly. I think they abused it to get clicks.

You don't need any specialized degree to distinguish between the two, and it is frankly not that difficult that laypeople would have difficulty grasping the difference. I prefer not to contribute to the declining precision of language whenever possible. I think saying that "an oligopoly is conceptually similar enough to a monopoly to use interchangeably" is a slide towards hyperbole. This kind of imprecision, but with a sinister bias towards the more extreme version of a word, is subtly making public discourse more polarizing and antagonistic.

Did you try checking the dictionary?

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/monopoly

From your link: "the exclusive possession or control of something", "a company or group that has such control".

You must be trolling.

I'm not. But I do find it interesting how some people here don't like certain definitions and claim they are wrong.

You claim our definitions are wrong as well!

You're describing markets the ways journalists are joked[1] about describing guns. Except you're doubling down and saying "No, you're wrong. All assault rifles are AK-47s, everyone knows what I mean when I say an AK-47, you know, a gun that shoots bullets fast and stuff!"

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/3h74f3/a_journalists...

You're the one that linked the dictionary the says "or group"...

A "group" in a business sense isn't distinct, unrelated entities.

The company I work for is the "something something group".

Even better: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/oligopoly

Oligopoly _specifically_ describes what we have here. I learned a new word today.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com