My only argument is that it’s reasonable for the GP to say that meth is amphetamine, even if it’s grammatically more correct to say an amphetamine.
It’s basically bullshit to dismiss what they were saying on the basis of this pedantry.
Amphetamine is a structural class.
It’s also clearly true that people not versed in chemistry associate meth with amphetamine.
What’s ‘technically’ correct to a chemist really isn’t relevant to this debate.
We wouldn’t generally argue that it’s incorrect to say that champagne is wine, even though it’s more technically accurate to say that champagne is a wine.
In the case of amphetamine, we feel the need to make the distinction more strongly because the word has two meanings.
This is only true for those of use who are aware of the presence of both meanings.
Those who think of amphetamine as a class and don’t distinguish it from the substance are not wrong. They are just less precise.
It's not a problem with grammar when the "incorrect" grammar changes the whole meaning of something. No one would be jumping on the comment if it had said, "meth is a amphetamine," which has the same meaning despite the incorrect grammar. Removing the "an" completely changes the meaning.
The relevancy to the debate is established by the meaning of the word. Which is a technical issue.
Leaving the definition of a precise term to the whims of layman results in that we can't any longer say if we are talking about the same things.
The end result is that the merge of the two ends up in the dictionary. Perhaps it's time to update the definitions but I doubt that 'amphetamine' will be defined as slang for 'meth' when in fact 'meth' is slang or short for 'methamphetamine'.
It’s basically bullshit to dismiss what they were saying on the basis of this pedantry.
Amphetamine is a structural class.
It’s also clearly true that people not versed in chemistry associate meth with amphetamine.
What’s ‘technically’ correct to a chemist really isn’t relevant to this debate.
We wouldn’t generally argue that it’s incorrect to say that champagne is wine, even though it’s more technically accurate to say that champagne is a wine.
In the case of amphetamine, we feel the need to make the distinction more strongly because the word has two meanings.
This is only true for those of use who are aware of the presence of both meanings.
Those who think of amphetamine as a class and don’t distinguish it from the substance are not wrong. They are just less precise.