Hacker News Reader

Comment by ericmay | Hacker News Reader

In the US we sometimes use the term “bribe” in morally neutral or even positive situations.

It just means giving someone money or a different incentive to convince them to do something they weren’t going to do or were undecided but considering doing and the extra incentive is the catalyst for making the decision.

We also have the legal concept of a bribe but the OP probably wasn’t using it in the legal sense - I.e. accusing the Netherlands of doing something illegal.

View on HN

The money isn't really for the researchers personally, but for doing the research. They are merely offered a job at a time where their jobs are on the line in the USA. And not even that, they still have to apply and compete with top researchers from other parts of the world. Really hard to call that a bribe, even in a morally neutral way. At most you could say the Netherlands - and other European countries - are taking advantages of the situation where the USA is abandoning their top researchers.

But for years it has been the other way around. Top talent from the Netherlands has been moving to the US in order to get funding (and a bigger salary).

The OP is using the terms incentive and bribe interchangeably. People do that in the US all the time. I don't think anyone really thinks it is wrong or morally disagreeable what the Netherlands is doing nor are they using the term in the legal sense. I was just explaining why someone might have used that term, obviously the OP probably should speak for themselves though in case they did mean it in the legal sense or something.

Sometimes. But bribery is also a crime, so using that word invites comment.

It's called slang in the United States.

Someone might say "dang they absolutely murdered that slice (I'm watching Wimbledon right now)". Nobody thinks well murdering is a crime, I need to go and comment on how the word murder is used inappropriately here.

No we don’t.

> In the US we sometimes use the term “bribe” in morally neutral or even positive situations.

I live here in the US. I've NEVER heard the term bribe in a neutral or even positive way. It might be used in a mocking way, as if to mock the idea of bribes, but never seriously.

So, unless you are confusing that mocking nature as morally neutral or even positive, this is incorrect.

I also live in the US. It's uncommon, but is used that way sometimes.

If you want to use a thing utterly incorrectly sometimes get ready to be met with confused responses.

You've never heard a parent or teacher say they bribed their kids for good behavior?

Never in a morally neutral or positive way!

You "Bribe" your kid with extra time on the iPad. You don't "Bribe" them with wholesome things.

Not in a serious way, no (hence my 'mocking' commentary). It's always playing off the joke or idea of "bribe". But if someone said "I bribed a police officer" wouldn't take it as a joke.

Edit: And to be clear, I wouldn't describe either of those are "morally neutral or even positive situations."

But please, by all means tell me how "Foo Company bribed professional Bar" is used positively and frequently enough that the gp makes sense.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com