I am looking for a name for an idea that I have for a website. It is a niche hobby, but there is a greek word for it that most people don’t know. Lets say its a book club and the word was Bibliophile or a music club called Melophile.

Would you, if you did not know the meaning, think of it as something sexual, or maybe even something bad? I am nervous that users might relate it to pedophile even though that is just one of, (but maybe best known) philias there are

  • adONis
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    618 months ago

    When I hear “audiophile”, I truly never think about licking the banana-plugs, so nope.

    There are also some popular YT channels like Computerphile and Numberphile

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      58 months ago

      But this is my question. The suffix means “to like” but this can be a good and a bad thing, depending on what the prefix is, like mentioned in the description. If you did not recognize the prefix would the average user assume the suffix to be sexual or negatively charged?

  • @Delphia@lemmy.world
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    318 months ago

    Just remember that the average Lemmy user is a bit more literate than the average kneejerk reaction idiot. Id say theres nothing wrong with it but you can probably come up with something a little more catchy and clever if you put your mind to it.

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      88 months ago

      I think you are right. I might go with a mixture of English and Greek like an other user mentioned (computerphile, numberphile, bookphile) even though they are not proper.

      • daddyjones
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        88 months ago

        I honestly think Bibliophile is used commonly enough that most people would understand it. Not quite as much as Audiophile, but you do hear it. It also sounds, info, much better than Bookphile.

  • southsamurai
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    258 months ago

    Phile is pretty much the best known greek suffix out there. It gets tagged onto most hobbies, so you don’t have to worry about it being defaulted to sexual matters. Tbh, most of the paraphilias are so obscure that nobody without an interest in the field is going to know them the way -phobias are. I mean, can you name the other chronophilias besides pedophilia? Did you even know that there were others? Most people really only know one or two sexual-philias at most, where they’ll have heard of a dozen or so non sexual ones.

    But, just tacking phile or philia onto a word can be clunky, so you might end up with it not working well anyway.

  • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    228 months ago

    “Audiophile” has never before brought to mind the concept of “pedophile”.

    In fact, note the way we shorten the word: “pedo”.

    I wouldn’t worry about it. But I’m autistic, so the way my brain processes these words might be different than an NT’s brain.

    Mostly I think it’s only going to be a problem for people who are looking for trouble, and you can’t really avoid problems with those people.

  • 520
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    178 months ago

    There is audiophile. It refers to someone who is obsessed about audio quality.

    • @nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      Theres also Audiophilic content too, and yet if you say you’re an audiophile no one mistakes it to mean you listen to audio porn. Context is going to be king with that suffix I wager.

  • @otp@sh.itjust.works
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    148 months ago

    It really depends. I think -phile tends to make me think non-sexual, and -philia makes me think sexual. Probably just because of how the words are used.

    People tend to be willing to describe themselves as an x-phile, but psychological or legal literature are more likely to say something like “a person with x-philia” or “displaying traits of x-philia”.

    • Monkey With A Shell
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      38 months ago

      I suspect the part with descriptions in literature is due to it being in a 3rd person. There seems to be a recent-ish trend though for people to refer to themselves in a ‘person who has X’ sense though to separate the person from the condition so maybe that changes.

      • @otp@sh.itjust.works
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        28 months ago

        Person First language. “A person with autism” means we use the word for the diagnosis, rather than the word for a diagnosed person (e.g., “autist”? Was that ever a real word?).

        • Monkey With A Shell
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          28 months ago

          That’s the phrase I was looking for.

          I’m pretty sure autist as a single word description was more a 4chan thing, but autistic person has been pretty common use.

          • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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            28 months ago

            In autistic online communities, we tend to refer to ourselves as autists. Sometimes I call myself “an autistic”.

            It doesn’t bother me, personally. And it seems to not bother the other autistic people I’ve interacted with.

  • @rustyfish@lemmy.world
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    128 months ago

    I assume the people who automatically think of something negative or sexual when hearing the word „phile“ are the same people you don’t want to associate with in the first place. Their opinion is worthless and can be ignored. Don’t waste your time with other people’s ignorance.

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      38 months ago

      I’d agree with you, but if it is for the purpose of educating people, I wouldn’t want to scare them away because they would feel its a risky click when linked to…

      • @rustyfish@lemmy.world
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        28 months ago

        Yeah, I feel you. Maybe there is a case to be made here. But I think those who are ignorant choose to be so and it’s a lost cause. You probably shouldn’t listen to me. I think it’s great of you to consider something like this.

      • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        18 months ago

        You could do some kind of A/B testing. Use some “phile” name in half your links, some more semantophobic name in the other half, and see if the phile thing results in less clickthrough.

  • Lvxferre
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    98 months ago

    I’d simply guess “lover, liker, fond of”, without any obligatory sexual connotation. Even if I don’t recognise the first part, as in… say, “wugphile” (“wug” is just a nonsense placeholder).

    • GadolElohai
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      48 months ago

      If you created a page called “Wugphile” I would totally think it was about linguistics :D

      • Lvxferre
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        28 months ago

        Well, considering the type of website that I’d create, that would be spot on. Perhaps with some sort of visual pun between “wugphile” and “wug file”, and abstract art for Chomsky’s “colourless green ideas sleep furiously”.

  • @weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    88 months ago

    I have some interest in chemistry and after a while when I hear “phile” my first thought is “they are attracted to water”.

    • RuBisCO
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      28 months ago

      A nucleophile happens by and notices your electrophile. Your electrophile is attracted to their greater electron density and ditches you, the leaving group, for them. Was this SN1 or SN2?

      • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        68 months ago

        That part where it sounds negative is happening in your own head.

        I think if you step back and evaluate this thread, you’ll find we’re all telling you it’s a non-problem.

        My advice is to not worry about it and move on.

        And, long shot, maybe take a look at your social surroundings and see if you’ve been in a group of pathological offense-takers. Hanging out with these types can result in your seeing the world as a minefield of unintended social insult.

        It really seems to me like the thing you’re worried about is a non-issue.

  • Devi
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    68 months ago

    I don’t know if this is international but it’s a common joke in British media to use this as a bit of a joke, for example a geeky character might say that they’re a bibliophile, and the dumb character will make it sexual.

    • @NightAuthor@lemmy.world
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      38 months ago

      Random dude I was talking to mentioned he was a “heliophile” mid-conversation about weather. Dude thought he was so smart, cuz apparently no one ever knows what he means when he uses that term. He joked about people sort of recoiling at the sound of the word.

      Anyway, I’d heard of helio and phile…. So he likes the sun. Uh, cool.

  • @AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world
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    68 months ago

    Not necessarily, it depends on whether I recognize the first part of the word. For example, I dont immediately think “audiophile,” is negative or sexual in nature.

  • @corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    58 months ago

    There’s only two words with the ‘phile’ ending that is sexual that I can think of. But audiophile, videophile, and a host of others use that ending in the context of a preference or attraction: nemophile has nothing to do with animated fish, for instance. Hemophilia is another example of a commonplace word that is definitely not sexual.

    I want to think the average person knows there’s no sex in halophilia, but we could be overestimating.

      • @NightAuthor@lemmy.world
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        18 months ago

        I always refer to myself as “a bit of an audiophile” because I went and researched a ton to get a particular amp and not your typical Sony speakers/ soundbar. And I just have particular interest in nice sound reproduction.

        But my speaker cables are just about as cheap as you can get.

        • wjrii
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          18 months ago

          Mine are the remnants of a vacuum cleaner power cord. There’s a lot of copper there, and a lot of rubber between them.

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      38 months ago

      Botanophile… my question is, what the average user who does not know the word or can guess it, will think of it. There is not doubt that it is not a sexual suffix, but if the reader does not recognize it, would they think it was?