The subject was being used for a specific point. If you can tell me what your questions have to do with the use of sympathy, empathy, respect, compassion, etc., we can go on.
And, as you seem to be so continually interested in my life, background, language and langauge use, colour, gender, etc., why not set up a thread about it?
Yeah, then maybe we can get back to whether a person can kill a fish out of “respect”…and whether that’s a correct choice words…not necessarily THE correct word choice; rather simply A correct choice.
Okay. Here’s the synopsis, Bayman. Only two native speakers have answered you, me and MrPedantic. I’m the only one who actually went about answering your question. Molly is not a native speaker of English, or at least claims not to be. (There is conjecture among some here that “she” is actually a British man posing as a Nigerian woman, but of course, we can’t know that for sure, so we have to take “her” word for it that “she” is a non-native speaker of English.)
So here is the synopsis from the only native English speaker (a linguist with a graduate degree) who has answered your question:
If you go according to one of the definitions of “respect” in the Oxford American Dictionary (“due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others”), then we can say that we kill a fish out of respect, because you’re doing it out of due regard for its feelings. However, I don’t find this definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the American Heritage dictionary or any other English dictionary, including the Oxford tome of British English that I have. So it’s a little iffy.
If you don’t want to choose a still iffy usage of a word, then it’s better to say you kill the fish immediately out of “compassion” or “mercy”.
The option “empathy” that was given is not good, because empathy implies that one knows what the fish feels like, and no human knows the feeling of being yanked out of water by a hook in the mouth and being unable to breathe in open air instead of in water. You can use “sympathy”, though.
(There is conjecture among some here that “she” is actually a British man posing as a Nigerian woman, but of course, we can’t know that for sure, so we have to take “her” word for it that “she” is a non-native speaker of English.)
I see you too have gone “Baa-baa!” and followed Mr P-astor.
So here is the synopsis from the only native English speaker (a linguist with a graduate degree) who has answered your question:
So it’s the linguists we have to believe in, right?
There you go with your amateur psychologising again. If YOU’VE never known pain that was inflicted by others, Jamie, and never experienced near suffocation, then YOU will never understand why I would choose to use “empathy” above. Speak with weight about your own experiences, but tread softly when you want to determine the experiences of others.
BTW, all, Jamie is referring to the lightweight version of “empathy” here. It seems he hasn’t looked deeper into the use/application and manifestations of empathy.
…they react on instinct…does that make a difference?
Still, I’m having trouble over the concept of “respect” being used in the same sentence as “killing”, whether that killing is being done out of one’s own compassioniate perception that what they believe they are are doing to a live fish is showing “respect” by dispatchiong it quickly.
I believe this needs a deeper explanation than just a literal translation.
Had I believed the answer didn’t branch out into many comprehensive variables, I probably wouldn’t have asked.
Came here hoping a brainiac might be around who did a thesis on the matter, or perhaps a College Prof.
Directions to unusual threads or discussions on the use of the word “respect”, and perhaps on any interpretations of its several definitions, are welcome. My searches were to no avail.
Consensus not needed. Going off on a tangent, no help. Opinions, well, what can I say.
My thanks to those who’ve contributed here, though an answer hasn’t really hit me.