First let’s get it out of the way: this is not a fully serious post, although not completely untrue either. This post is also considered work-in-progress, probably with more entries to come.

This is a non-exhaustive list of terms whose widely established semantics I am willing to question and discuss until the heat death of the universe, along with explanations why.

“DLC” (“Downloadable Content”)

Established meaning: Commonly used for micro-addons for video games, usually paid.

Suggested replacement terms: “addon”, “expansion pack”.

Oh, “downloadable content” you say? And somehow the 100 GiB base game I just downloaded isn’t considered a “downloadable content”? Isn’t THIS VERY WEBPAGE a content you can download?! How vague can we even get?!

What really grinds my gears is how this term shifts the focus from what we buy and for how much, towards the delivery method instead. Somehow “DLC” sounds better than “a $10 character hairstyle pack”.

“NSFW”

Established meaning: Anything remotely erotic.

Suggested replacement terms: “porn”, “erotica”.

I’m pretty sure most “SFW” content would be quite NSFW if your boss would see you browsing it instead of working while on the job. On the other hand in the “NSFW jobs”¹ the NSFW content is fully expected.

We already have words for porn, such as “porn”.

“Free game” (with Prime Gaming or another similar service)

Established meaning: A paid game that’s included in Amazon Prime you already pay for.

Suggested replacement term: “a game included in a service”.

A game that’s included at no additional cost in a paid service that includes games among other things. Doesn’t sound free at all to me, you’re just already happy with the service regardless of that game being included.

At this point even Humble Bundle has the gall to call the games in their Humble Choice subscription “free”. Let me restate: these games are free with a subscription you pay for almost explicitly to receive these games as all the other perks are negligible.