I don’t agree with labelling something “hunger” which is not hunger in the way ordinary folks understand it. You are talking about addiction. Hunger is the thin end of the wedge for starvation and famine. That is a thing in the world, still. It has all but nothing to do with the West’s inequality-fuelled addiction problems, or at least is something very, very different.
I think that’s a sophisticated re-rendering, and that most ordinary folks do associate the word “hunger” with famine, with starving, with terrible deprivation.
I don’t think the definition is that narrow.
There’s definitions like this:
a compelling need or desire for food.
the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food: to collapse from hunger.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hunger
a craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient
an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food
weakened condition brought about by prolonged lack of food
It’s indeed often used to describe more dire situations around a lack of food, but it’s not exclusively used for those situations. Hunger is also the corresponding noun to “feeling hungry”. Hungriness isn’t used that often.
Sure. I agree with all that.
I don’t agree with labelling something “hunger” which is not hunger in the way ordinary folks understand it. You are talking about addiction. Hunger is the thin end of the wedge for starvation and famine. That is a thing in the world, still. It has all but nothing to do with the West’s inequality-fuelled addiction problems, or at least is something very, very different.
I just wish we would use language more correctly.
I don’t think the definition is that narrow. There’s definitions like this:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hunger
It’s indeed often used to describe more dire situations around a lack of food, but it’s not exclusively used for those situations. Hunger is also the corresponding noun to “feeling hungry”. Hungriness isn’t used that often.