this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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Like, in real life, execute doesn't mean to start, it means to stop...

top 39 comments
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[–] DomeGuy@lemmy.world 43 points 4 days ago (1 children)

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/execute

"Execute" primarily means "carry out", not "kill". The latter definition is an adaption from the person designated to carry out the act of killing people for violating the law, which presumably at one point was done directly by the hereditary executive.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So, if there was any actual consistency to the English language, giving birth would mean the same as executing a new person..?

[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago

It used to be both definitions before modern morals and medical practices.

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 21 points 4 days ago (1 children)

execute doesn’t mean to start, it means to stop…

No?

First Known Use 14th century, in the meaning "to carry (something) out fully : to put (something) completely into effect"

[–] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago

Poorly executed doesn't mean they had to slowly hack through someone's head because the guillotine was blunt lol

[–] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You ever heard the phrase: "Worked well in theory not execution"?

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The original usage was to carry out (a command). In that original sense it was the sentence, rather than the prisoner, who was executed; but the meaning got transferred over time.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 8 points 4 days ago

In earlier days of computing people first became accustomed to computers "executing" the "instructions" they'd been programmed with. By the time anything resembling today's software executables came along that was the established word for the thing computers did.

[–] CapnClenchJaw@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

The first definition of 'execute' on Merrium Webster is this:

To put into effect; carry out.

Which seems very in keeping with running a software command.

[–] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Got to consider context. Whatever you do, do not look up the definition of "set", or "run".

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

I couldn't help myself, and now I can't figure out how numbers play volleyball and why applications need to jog.

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 5 points 4 days ago

Transitive verb

  1. To put into effect; carry out.
  2. To perform; do: synonym: perform.
[–] 6nk06@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wiktionary

  1. (transitivecomputing) To start, launch or run

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world -4 points 4 days ago (3 children)

So to execute a program is to start as execute a human is to...? 🤔

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Even if you don't accept the transference of a meaning from a euphemism to its own verb, you're surely not confused by other verbs that have multiple meanings.

When I "order" a hamburger, I'm not telling it to do anything.

Some words even mean the opposite of themselves sometimes.

It is what it is.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 3 points 4 days ago

I ordered my last hamburger to stop choking me.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world -1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

When it comes to word salads, I tent to tell everyone the same thing...

"I have the right to wipe my ass with a pinecone, but that doesn't mean its the right thing to do."

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Can you try that again? I have no idea what you're trying to say.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world -2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't know any other way to say that, perhaps read over my quote a few times and think about it a bit.. 🤷

💩🍍

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh, I get it. Reading comprehension issue on your end.

Let me slow it down for you, champ, and then I'm out of this conversation, since you decided to turn dick about it.

YOU NO GET BIG CONFUSE WHEN OTHER WORD MEAN TWO THING.

ORDER MEAN TELL SOMEONE DO SOMETHING, AND ALSO REQUEST BUY SOMETHING!

CONTRONYM LIKE SANCTION MEAN APPROVE AND DISAPPROVE AT SAME TIME!

Hope that helped. Respond if you want, but you're talking to yourself from here on out, buddy.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

NO HABLA JIBBERISH!

Haha, have a good day mah dude 👍

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Is to carry out a death sentence.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago