_ Lofts I hear what you are saying. However, you have inadvertantly stumbled on one of my pet peeves. The corruption of the English language. “Discrimination” is a perfect example. The definition you stated is the new definition and it is in some ways diametrically opposed to the original meaning of the word.

At its most basic, to discriminate is to recognize a difference or to differentiate. This is not a bad thing and it absolutely applies to cars, milk, shoes, and just about everything else that enters into our consciousness every day. But, that’s not really how it was used historically. It was used to identify someone who could distinguish differences in something because of their expertiese in the subject. A “discriminating customer” is one who can tell the fine differences between two items that are not obvious to the casual observer. It is a desirable and valuable skill to be able to discriminate between bolts of cloth, coffee beans, fine wines, cigars, rare books, etc.

The word discriminate has been twisted from meaning “to differentiate based on non-obvious traits that make a difference” (a good thing) to “to differentiate based on obvious traits that don’t make a difference” (a bad thing).

Does this matter? Maybe. We live in a hot-headed age of social media where people leap to find grievance in every word. Spending more time to understand our language may help us understand each other.

Or maybe not.