• nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    13 hours ago

    by definition it’s a between space, like going from one place to another. in practice it’s a space that should have people in it but doesn’t. think an empty mall or indoor swimming pool.

    the backrooms are probably the most popular example of a liminal space

    • RamenJunkie@midwest.social
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      9 hours ago

      I think it also has to be a bit off. Like an empty mall, but evety store is a Gap, or an empty swimming pool, but there are no ladders, or exit doors.

      Something like that.

      • mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de
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        57 minutes ago

        What you’re describing is the new popular and also wrong use of this great and useful and specific word which fills a legitimate lexical gap. I’m not hating on you. I’m just very passionate about this. Liminality is a great concept, great term, very useful. Turning it into “le creepy empty room with le slenderman” as is popularly becoming is very irritating to me because we already have words to more or less accurately describe that.

      • axx@slrpnk.net
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        9 hours ago

        No, not really: a liminal space is a space that is in between spaces that we want to use.

        Quote Wikipedia:

        In architecture, liminal spaces are defined as “the physical spaces between one destination and the next.” Common examples of such spaces include hallways, airports, and streets.

        But it appears that current speak has changed the word to give it this meaning of eerieness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminal_space/_(aesthetic)