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Comment by malvosenior | Hacker News Reader

For someone who doesn't want to be painted in broad strokes, it seems like a very broad brush to paint non-Googlers with.

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I read the masses as anyone but he development team. Who's to say that the masses doesn't mean Googlers? It wasn't categorising anyone aside from being "everyone else" as I read it

Who said that Googlers are not part of those "masses"? Surely they enjoy products from their company as anybody else?

And then, of course, nobody said you're part of those masses anyway. Maybe you're not. Do you enjoy Google product X as other hundreds of million do? Then you're part of the mass that enjoys it. Otherwise you are part of the mass that doesn't.

'The masses' refers to the lower classes (look at any dictionary and how the word has historically been used - 'opiate of the masses', 'the unwashed masses'). It would not typically be correct to say that a Googler is part of the lower classer. 'The masses' is definitely not the same as 'everyone'.

In your negative case you're using modifier words to change the meaning of "masses". Besides, why be part of the PC police??

Saying unwashed before most words standing in for people would likely not be a nice thing to say. So of course unwashed masses isn’t a good phrase. Nor is “unwashed people”

Another way of putting it: words have connotations as well as meanings.

People do sometimes seem to forget this! - so it's good to have a reminder.

Well put

I'm so fucking sick of people being offended by everything

I'm so tired of people being sick of people being offended by everything.

And I feel sick...probably because of something I ate.

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