Does the term "cutting" bother you?
geotrice
Posts: 274 Member
"Cutting" also has some negative associations. Every time I read a post which uses "cutting" I immediately think the person is suicidal. Maybe it's just me?
Wouldn't something like "curbing" or "trimming" or "thinning" be just as good?
Wouldn't something like "curbing" or "trimming" or "thinning" be just as good?
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"Cutting" has been used for years in reference to dieting down. When I think of "trimming" or "thinning" i think of hair.
*shrug*0 -
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On here? No, as that's basically what it is...cutting the fat off your body. Now, if they were discussing depression/self-harm, then yes I would be bothered.0
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It's just you.0
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Nope. Because context.0
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I don't love any of the common terms like "cutting," "shredding," etc. Not sure why, they just hit me the wrong way. I never thought about the term in its self-injury meaning, though.0
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Well... English is not my mother tongue, and besides the literal meaning of the word, I first came across with the Self-harm meaning cutting; then I realized that as many English words, it´s a matter of context. I mean, it would be very ugly if 15 posters in a row were (self-harm) cutting, don´t you think?0
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Yeah, no I get that it's a common term. I'm not discounting it. I understand that it's referencing cutting calories from your diet. From that perspective it's fine. Not ideal or precise, in my opinion. But I get it.
But there's another aspect: it's often used as an antonym to "bulking". Bulking implies adding weight or size to the body. I guess, for me, the duality doesn't really hold up between the terms. One is about the changing the body, the other is about changing the diet. Combine that with the unintentional overlap with the unfortunate meaning and it seems a bit problematic. Especially if the focus on "cutting calories" should be done in a healthy way.
Don't mind me...just picking nits. Again maybe it's just me.
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no more than my kid talking about cutting a piece of paper.
context, dude.0 -
Oh please. Let's not start that crap.-1
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »no more than my kid talking about cutting a piece of paper.
context, dude.
Right, but cutting a piece of paper is literally what one does to paper. Unless you're cutting a piece of meat with kitchen scissors or cutting a cake you're not really cutting calories, you're removing or reducing them.0 -
kikichewie wrote: »Oh please. Let's not start that crap.
#byefelecia0 -
It doesn't exactly bother me, but I was definitely alarmed the first few times I saw people using the term.0
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »no more than my kid talking about cutting a piece of paper.
context, dude.
Right, but cutting a piece of paper is literally what one does to paper. Unless you're cutting a piece of meat with kitchen scissors or cutting a cake you're not really cutting calories, you're removing or reducing them.
You know that words have different meanings according to context?6 Reduce the amount or quantity of:
buyers will bargain hard to cut the cost of the house they want
I should cut down my sugar intake
[NO OBJECT]: they’ve cut back on costs
we’re looking to cut down on the use of chemicals
Oxford Dictionaries0 -
kikichewie wrote: »Oh please. Let's not start that crap.
Love to know what you mean by that.
OT: doesn't bother me. I understand the difference in meaning and I really think it's a perfectly fine word to use in the context.0 -
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Dreamyriver wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »no more than my kid talking about cutting a piece of paper.
context, dude.
Right, but cutting a piece of paper is literally what one does to paper. Unless you're cutting a piece of meat with kitchen scissors or cutting a cake you're not really cutting calories, you're removing or reducing them.
You know that words have different meanings according to context?6 Reduce the amount or quantity of:
buyers will bargain hard to cut the cost of the house they want
I should cut down my sugar intake
[NO OBJECT]: they’ve cut back on costs
we’re looking to cut down on the use of chemicals
Oxford Dictionaries
Yes. I am aware of contextual meaning. In the examples you provided the object being cut were also used (costs, sugar, chemicals). "Cutting calories" does not give me the associations of self harm. "Cutting" (by itself) does however, at least initially. I know on these forums the "calories" is implied. But again maybe it's just me.0 -
It makes me think about a song that has nothing to do with self harm. But it doesn't bother me at all.0
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Yeah, no I get that it's a common term. I'm not discounting it. I understand that it's referencing cutting calories from your diet. From that perspective it's fine. Not ideal or precise, in my opinion. But I get it.
But there's another aspect: it's often used as an antonym to "bulking". Bulking implies adding weight or size to the body. I guess, for me, the duality doesn't really hold up between the terms. One is about the changing the body, the other is about changing the diet. Combine that with the unintentional overlap with the unfortunate meaning and it seems a bit problematic. Especially if the focus on "cutting calories" should be done in a healthy way.
Don't mind me...just picking nits. Again maybe it's just me.
They are both about changing the body. Losing fat and some muscle, or adding muscle and some fat... seems like antonyms to me.
I have enough in life to worry about to not worry about something so little.0 -
I usually say I'm "prepping" as when I'm losing weight it's during preparation for a competition. Sounds better to me
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Lots of words have more than one meaning but more importantly different connotations we associate with that word based on our experience.
For example Home is often associated with warmth comfort and love but for some people it is quite the opposite.
Maybe it is more your personal connotations that make it an unpleasant word for you rather than the meaning of the word itself.
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I do like that. Though prepping is short for preparing. One prepares for an for an event like a competition. What if you are just in a reduction phase without an associated event?livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I usually say I'm "prepping" as when I'm losing weight it's during preparation for a competition. Sounds better to me0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »Yeah, no I get that it's a common term. I'm not discounting it. I understand that it's referencing cutting calories from your diet. From that perspective it's fine. Not ideal or precise, in my opinion. But I get it.
But there's another aspect: it's often used as an antonym to "bulking". Bulking implies adding weight or size to the body. I guess, for me, the duality doesn't really hold up between the terms. One is about the changing the body, the other is about changing the diet. Combine that with the unintentional overlap with the unfortunate meaning and it seems a bit problematic. Especially if the focus on "cutting calories" should be done in a healthy way.
Don't mind me...just picking nits. Again maybe it's just me.
They are both about changing the body. Losing fat and some muscle, or adding muscle and some fat... seems like antonyms to me.
I have enough in life to worry about to not worry about something so little.
Language reflects and informs how you perceive the world around you. If there's an opportunity to improve language, why shouldn't we examine the idea?0 -
I do like that. Though prepping is short for preparing. One prepares for an for an event like a competition. What if you are just in a reduction phase without an associated event?livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I usually say I'm "prepping" as when I'm losing weight it's during preparation for a competition. Sounds better to me
You tell us. You seem to be troubled by words so you tell the rest of the world what you want us to call it and I'm sure everyone will agree so as not to give you the heeby-jeebies.0 -
I really like the term, actually, because it's an alternative with a more positive meaning to "diet" in my mind. Diet tend to convey to me a focus on being overly fat and unhappy with your body and just wanting to get smaller, to have a lower number on the scale. Cutting, because of its association with body building, seems to me to be focused on fat loss specifically in the context of wanting to increase overall the lean mass percentage and fitness and, especially, a greater sense of empowerment with respect to your body, vs. the almost self-loathing that to me gets associated with dieting.
Sure, I know the self-abuse context too, but as noted above, context is everything.
That it would be problematic if literal doesn't bother me, lots of English terms would be. Language is often not literal.0 -
I do like that. Though prepping is short for preparing. One prepares for an for an event like a competition. What if you are just in a reduction phase without an associated event?livingleanlivingclean wrote: »I usually say I'm "prepping" as when I'm losing weight it's during preparation for a competition. Sounds better to me
I hope not to be in that position again....
I haven't lost anything for something that wasn't comp prep for 4 years! I'm starting prep again in June, then going to reverse diet and hopefully just get to a point where I'm happy with my physique and slowly just adding muscle without forcing it or intentionally trying to grow.0 -
Yeah, no I get that it's a common term. I'm not discounting it. I understand that it's referencing cutting calories from your diet. From that perspective it's fine. Not ideal or precise, in my opinion. But I get it.
But there's another aspect: it's often used as an antonym to "bulking". Bulking implies adding weight or size to the body. I guess, for me, the duality doesn't really hold up between the terms. One is about the changing the body, the other is about changing the diet. Combine that with the unintentional overlap with the unfortunate meaning and it seems a bit problematic. Especially if the focus on "cutting calories" should be done in a healthy way.
Don't mind me...just picking nits. Again maybe it's just me.
Ummm no. Both cutting and bulking is about changing weight/size of the body, not necessarily what you eat. I have people on my FL that eat the same things in a cut as they do a bulk..just more or less depending on the stage.
And I don't understand how this somehow makes cutting calories healthy or unhealthy?0 -
manderson27 wrote: »Lots of words have more than one meaning but more importantly different connotations we associate with that word based on our experience.
For example Home is often associated with warmth comfort and love but for some people it is quite the opposite.
Maybe it is more your personal connotations that make it an unpleasant word for you rather than the meaning of the word itself.
Maybe. The connotations I bring to my interpretation of a word could be very different from others approaching the same word.
Should a commonly used slang term, which have more than one meaning? Isn't that the fundamental problem with jargon and lingo? Wouldn't a precise and dedicated term be more appropriate? If one doesn't exist can and should a dedicated word be created? One free of other possible associations?0 -
manderson27 wrote: »Lots of words have more than one meaning but more importantly different connotations we associate with that word based on our experience.
For example Home is often associated with warmth comfort and love but for some people it is quite the opposite.
Maybe it is more your personal connotations that make it an unpleasant word for you rather than the meaning of the word itself.
Maybe. The connotations I bring to my interpretation of a word could be very different from others approaching the same word.
Should a commonly used slang term, which have more than one meaning? Isn't that the fundamental problem with jargon and lingo? Wouldn't a precise and dedicated term be more appropriate? If one doesn't exist can and should a dedicated word be created? One free of other possible associations?
Sure. Go ahead.0 -
manderson27 wrote: »Lots of words have more than one meaning but more importantly different connotations we associate with that word based on our experience.
For example Home is often associated with warmth comfort and love but for some people it is quite the opposite.
Maybe it is more your personal connotations that make it an unpleasant word for you rather than the meaning of the word itself.
Maybe. The connotations I bring to my interpretation of a word could be very different from others approaching the same word.
Should a commonly used slang term, which have more than one meaning? Isn't that the fundamental problem with jargon and lingo? Wouldn't a precise and dedicated term be more appropriate? If one doesn't exist can and should a dedicated word be created? One free of other possible associations?
Oh? Do you know how many words have different meanings depending on context? You going to change them all?0
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