ChalkBucket Use of ignorant and naive

[JBS]

While this has come up in a recent thread... it's nothing new on discussion forums. From the recent thread...

Ignorant - (adj) lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about a particular thing.

Naive - (adj) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment

Now I want to add in a bit more from Merriam-Webster...

The Polite and Not-So-Polite Uses of Ignorant

Ignorant shares a root with the word ignore, one of those etymological connections which appear obvious once they are pointed out, yet remained overlooked by most. Both words come from the Latin ignorare (“to ignore, be ignorant of”). There are several meanings of ignorant, all of which are concerned with a lack of knowledge in some sense; some of these are more insulting than others, and care should be exercised before applying this word to people who you do not wish to offend. Saying “They were ignorant of most of the laws of physics” means that the people in question did not have a specific body of learning. Saying “You are an ignorant person” is possibly describing someone as primitive, crude, or uncivilized.

There are several cases in the history of this forum where there is no citing of any sort of factual data and the word ignorant is thrown around... this is just an insult. If someone does not agree with you (they have a different opinion)... and the data is in fact a gray area... be very careful how you use the word ignorant or naive.

In other words... someone is not ignorant just because they have a different opinion than you.

If you would like to call someone or their thoughts or ideas ignorant... just back it up with the actual facts that they are ignorant of.

 

[JBS]

If something comes to the moderation staff... they will have to decide if the term has been applied correctly. If it is decided that the word ignorant or naive has been used ignorantly... then warnings will be applied.

If the word has been used correctly... then it should be very easy to see the facts that the person is ignorant of.

 

[JBS]

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