Talk:calculated

People have been using "calculated" in a non-standard way lately. For instance, Floyd Mayweather calls himself a "calculated fighter" (and one can find many other instances of this usage online in discussions of sports and video games). Why not "calculating fighter"? That would be the standard usage. "Calculated fighter" uses the verb calculating in the passive past participle as an adjective, so while it is meant to indicate that one is crafty and strategic, it inadvertently denotes that one is the grammatical object of "to calculate" rather than the subject. For instance, when one says, "I took a calculated risk" the risk has been calculated. When one says "I'm a calculated fighter," though, the fighter has not been calculated, but supposedly does the calculating. So my question is, has this usage become common enough (to the point where not many people seem to be thrown by Mayweather's phrase) that it deserves inclusion within the definition of calculated?

If it's in been use long enough, and not just by a few individuals, we definitely should include it (see our Criteria for inclusion for details). The only question is whether to label it nonstandard. I think most people would still consider it to be incorrect, so I would say yes. It would be nice for everything to make sense, but language doesn't have to: there are plenty of cases where the nonstandard has become the norm, and even cases where usage that was condemned by grammarians at one time is now considered the only proper way to say something. Chuck Entz (talk) 15:43, 3 May 2015 (UTC)