undefined | Better HN

0 pointsaschampion9y ago0 comments

Language shapes perception shapes language, so it's absolutely worthwhile to be vigilant and critical about the idioms we endorse by adopting, especially for engineered phrases (e.g., "right to work").

0 comments

Angostura9y ago

I absolutely agree about the power of language to shape thought. But consider, whenever you've heard of company A poaching employee Y from company B, has it really subtly made you think of Y as a helpless object?

Whenever, I see it, I think of the two companies plying Y with enticements, with Y manipulating them until (s)he finally gets rich rewards with the new company.

mikeash9y ago

It doesn't make me think of Y as a helpless object. But it does make me think of A as doing something wrong. I strongly object to the term because it implies that companies shouldn't compete for employees, which pushes our salaries down.

ghaff9y ago

I think that's fair. After all, poach has literal meanings that apply to acts that are clearly wrong or illegal. In fact, if I look at the dictionary, you see words like trespass, steal, etc.

You do hear poach used colloquially or even somewhat jokingly when it's not intended to imply anything nefarious but the word does imply something underhanded.

munificent9y ago

> whenever you've heard of company A poaching employee Y from company B, has it really subtly made you think of Y as a helpless object?

Yes. If that wasn't what someone was trying to convey, why did they pick the word "poach" in the first place? The whole point of using that word is to evoke a metaphor where the hired employee is mere game animal ensnared by the company.

> I think of the two companies plying Y with enticements, with Y manipulating them until (s)he finally gets rich rewards with the new company.

"Hire" is a good verb for that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse