XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage

re: using Reticent to mean Reluctant....


i think this type of usage (euphemism) is common...

i seem to notice a similar pattern
when people (business types) use "decline" when they mean
"reject"

Why is my credit card declined when I have money?

Your card may be declined for a number of reasons: the card
has expired; you're over your credit limit; the card issuer sees
suspicious activity that could be a sign of fraud; or a hotel, rental
car company, or other business placed a block (or hold) on your card for
its estimated total of your bill.

Why Is My Credit Card Being Declined? www.experian.com

2024 — Credit cards are declined for a wide variety of
reasons, such as you've reached your credit limit, you're behind on
payments or you have a large pending ...


______________________________


On Thu, 16 Jan 2025 22:28:32 +0000, JNugent wrote:

<https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jan/15/criminally-reckless-la-wildfires-urban-sprawl>

On the subject of the recent and current LA fires, a Guardian columnist suggests that is was always inevitable. Well, maybe it was. After all,
most houses there seem to be built almost exclusively of highly
combustible material, whereas mine, like most low-rise buildings in the
UK, is made of brick and tile, more than strong enough to protect any
given trio of little pigs from marauding wolves.

But my query here is about one of the words used within the article.

QUOTE:
The insurance industry is already reticent to underwrite homes in fire zones...
ENDQUOTE

A little knowledge, as they say...

Surely, "reticent" means quiet, uncommunicative and other things of that sort?

It does not mean "reluctant".

Or, in these days when English seems to have almost stopped having rules
and agreed definitions, does it?

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