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Comment by untog | Hacker News Reader

So you're saying that we shouldn't use "ruined life" in any circumstances? I'm not really sure what the appeal is to here - that we should only ever use clinical and unemotional words when describing things? Seems like a net loss to me. If I think my life has been ruined why can't I say that?

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Of course you should use it when you think its appropriate. For example, if you left your boots on the ground, it would be appropriate to describe them as "boots on the ground". If you are talking about the historic center of a city, call it the "inner-city".

But for the examples you gave upthread, it would be more accurate and useful to say "ruined credit" (and in that case, it's really only for some years) or "ruined marriage".

If someone spent their life in prison and lost their mind due to a wrongful conviction, I'd call that a "ruined life". And if you feel your life is ruined, you should say it.

But I read the phrase "ruined life" and I really don't think it communicates anything except for "bad thing". So why not just express the value judgment and say "That's bad and here's why" rather than trying to describe a life as "ruined"? It's another phrase that has lost whatever meaning it once had.

I think a lot of the people who have had identify fraud happen to them would say their life has been ruined. This seems like a silly argument on whether or not their lives have been "really ruined" or not when we get the point. Yes, it is a phrase, maybe it is overused, but does it really matter?

"Ruined life" can and should refer to an event that negatively affects other major areas of one's life that are not directly connected to that event. Being able to buy a house has nothing to do with a random company getting hacked, unless that hack involved getting your personal information into the hands of criminals, who then use that to commit criminal activity which leads to false accusations against you regarding your creditworthiness, leading to lenders not trusting you with a house loan.

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