> The IAU happened 18 years ago but the vast public hasn’t cottened on to the whole new “cleared orbital debris” concept
The vast public doesn't generally cotton to anything. People don't routinely specify that they're talking about non-avian dinosaurs, or non-tetrapod fishes.
Which doesn't matter, because nobody expects the general public to actually be precise, so nobody gives a shit.
> a word that already has widespread use and understanding.
An enumeration is not an understanding. There is no understanding where Pluto is a planet and Eris is not.
> without attempts at universal redefinition by a minority of people who use the word for highly specialized reasons.
You mean the people who actually use the words as if they meant something?
> What are regular people supposed to say now when they want to say what planet meant which includes Mercury and Pluto? “Planetary like things?”???
That scenario occurs about as often as regular people wanting to say planet excluding pluto before the vote: they're never precise enough that it matters, and in the zero cases where it happens, they can just specify "incuding pluto" or "excluding pluto".
The vast public doesn't generally cotton to anything. People don't routinely specify that they're talking about non-avian dinosaurs, or non-tetrapod fishes.
Which doesn't matter, because nobody expects the general public to actually be precise, so nobody gives a shit.
> a word that already has widespread use and understanding.
An enumeration is not an understanding. There is no understanding where Pluto is a planet and Eris is not.
> without attempts at universal redefinition by a minority of people who use the word for highly specialized reasons.
You mean the people who actually use the words as if they meant something?
> What are regular people supposed to say now when they want to say what planet meant which includes Mercury and Pluto? “Planetary like things?”???
That scenario occurs about as often as regular people wanting to say planet excluding pluto before the vote: they're never precise enough that it matters, and in the zero cases where it happens, they can just specify "incuding pluto" or "excluding pluto".