---
title: Category Mistake
tags:
  - topic/ambiguity
  - type/encyclopedia-entry
---
# Category Mistake

> [!quote] [Category mistake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_mistake)
> An example is a person learning that the game of cricket involves team spirit,
> and after being given a demonstration of each player's role,
> asking which player performs the "team spirit".

All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

## Overgeneralization via Hyperspecification

Or "inappropriate synecdoche[^1]"

[^1]: **synecdoche:** Using the name of a part to refer to the whole, or vice versa.

Much of my issue with terminology
can be blamed on **overgeneralization via hyperspecification**,

[Proprietary eponyms](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proprietary_eponym)
(synonym: [genericized trademark](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genericized_trademark))
are usually[^2] an example of such,
and are prominent in electrical construction.[^3]

[^2]: I'm not a complete pedant, Cadweld is a perfectly unambiguous substitution.
    "Caddy", "Hilti", and "Vitalink" are my real complaints,
    where the word only gets me marginally closer
    to creating a concrete image in my head.

    The general acceptance of "band-aid"
    compared to the rejection of "coke"
    may be related.

[^3]: See [Database of American Proprietary Eponyms](https://www.searstower.org/rkrause/brands.html)
    for examples.
