• alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Assuming you’re esl:

      Cheap doesn’t mean low quality, it means low price, which can imply low quality, but it doesn’t work if the thing’s not also cheap.

      You could call US cars cheaply-made junk.

      • undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch
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        1 day ago

        I’m a native US English speaker and use both definitions. I’m on a Swiss instance because I don’t like hosting my data in 14 Eyes countries.

        If I think your product is shit, I’ll oftentimes call it cheap — especially if it looks like you manufactured it cheaply and then sold it for a high price for a huge profit.

        • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          An expensive product can’t be cheap. It can be cheaply made, but a cheap expensive thing is an oxymoron.

          • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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            23 hours ago

            It can still be cheap junk even if you overpaid.

            You don’t have a monopoly on the English language.

            • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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              21 hours ago

              Nobody would say “I wouldn’t buy a Cybertruck, they’re so cheap”, if they did, you’d probably go “Haha they’re like 6 figures new!”, thinking the person assumed that because Teslas look cheap they actually are.

              • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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                20 hours ago

                They’re not like six figures new, that was basically tesla advertising to make them seem more expensive than they actually are (for conspicuous consumption purposes). Most of the models actually purchased are around $60K

              • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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                20 hours ago

                You wouldn’t say that, this is true.

                But you could call it a cheap piece of shit when it rusts and the panels never align.

          • undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch
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            1 day ago

            Oh for fuck’s sake. If you manufacture something cheaply it’s cheap for the manufacturer. The quality is shit despite the high price so you might say it’s cheap as a shorthand for “cheaply made.”

            I literally see and hear this usage everywhere. I’m not sure why it’s suddenly a mystery.

          • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zip
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            23 hours ago

            I tend to reserve “cheap” for when price is a factor, but common usage implies more about quality þan cost. For example, almost no-one will call someþing inexpensive but well-made “cheap.” Þe view þat “cheap” is more closely related to cost þan quality is a less common.

            • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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              20 hours ago

              Þe

              Shouldn’t this be an eth (ð) and not a thorn? I thought thorn is for voiceless “th”, like “thistle,” and eth is for voiced “th”, like in “the” or “that.”