But "gay", "kleenex", and "xerox" (still) mean specific things, even if not what they originally meant, or if their scope has trivially increased. Gay=homosexual, Kleenex=tissue, Xerox=copier.[1]
The problem is when a word is diluted so much that it can mean any number of things, to the point where it's useless as a descriptor of anything because it's too ambiguous.
disruptive=?? Something that displaces an incumbent by changing the game entirely? Something that steals market share? Something that's just done much better than what was done in the past? Useless.
It would be as if "gay" was in as common usage for "happy and carefree" as it is for "homosexual". If you said "Bob is gay", it'd be entirely unclear what you meant.
[1] Although, interestingly, I find the latter two falling out of favor. I much much more often hear "tissue" or "copier"/"copy machine".
But "gay", "kleenex", and "xerox" (still) mean specific things, even if not what they originally meant, or if their scope has trivially increased. Gay=homosexual, Kleenex=tissue, Xerox=copier.[1]
The problem is when a word is diluted so much that it can mean any number of things, to the point where it's useless as a descriptor of anything because it's too ambiguous.
disruptive=?? Something that displaces an incumbent by changing the game entirely? Something that steals market share? Something that's just done much better than what was done in the past? Useless.
It would be as if "gay" was in as common usage for "happy and carefree" as it is for "homosexual". If you said "Bob is gay", it'd be entirely unclear what you meant.
[1] Although, interestingly, I find the latter two falling out of favor. I much much more often hear "tissue" or "copier"/"copy machine".