• Deacon@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I have never seen affable used in this way, presumably as a pejorative. Do you mean this in the sense of them being benign?

    I’m genuinely not criticizing; I love learning new things and my question is genuine.

    • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, was going for the “mild/benign” meaning.

      Basically, “the greatest military in the world, which has NeVeR lOsT a WaR, couldn’t keep the strait that was already open open, lost several planes, and had multiple bases struck.”

      That military seems mild or benign.

      • Deacon@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Thank you. I didn’t even know this was one of the definitions until seeing your use of it and looking it up. Appreciate you expanding my understanding.

        • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          Even the “mild/benign” meaning generally carries a tone of positivity (like a store clerk is trained to be affable–even at their worst they’ll still be polite) so it’s not an exact literal fit here.

          I was using it more as a tongue and cheek jab attempting to highlight more than just the inadequacies, but to paint them as non-threatening. Obviously that’s not case, the US did carry out strikes in Iran and has certainly been threatening both in language and act.

          In a more professional setting devoid of my joke attempt I would have probably used “inept.”