Thread: How many of you have glasses?

Why are people saying "shortsighted?" Is that the proper term outside of the USA?

Where I'm from, if you can't see far away you would be "nearsighted." Being "shortsighted" means that your mentally not looking at the whole picture and impulsively reacting to what is presented right in front of you. Essentially the opposite of foresight.

EDIT: How long does one need to be on the internet before they post queries to answers that can easily be found on Wikipedia?

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia

Myopia (Ancient Greek: μυωπία, muōpia, from myein "to shut" – ops (gen. opos) "eye"[1]), commonly known as being nearsighted (American English) and shortsighted (British English) ...

Still, it's quite strange to hear someone comfortably claim that they're shortsighted without any self remorse. In fact, in American English... a person being able to diagnose their own shortsightedness is something of a logical paradox.

Originally Posted by SlyMaelstrom

Still, it's quite strange to hear someone comfortably claim that they're shortsighted without any self remorse. In fact, in American English... a person being able to diagnose their own shortsightedness is something of a logical paradox.

That may be strange to you. The term nearsighted is strange to me.

But, then again, I've yet to meet an American who does not strike me as a little .... um ... idiosyncratic.