A wrong answer prevents you from completing a crossword puzzle.
Some examples
Let's see the term in context through the following example sentences: “Due to an erroneous calculation of the taxes I had to pay, the car finally cost me much more expensive than I had initially anticipated,” “I never received the package .” because of an erroneous information in my record” , “I believe that this government's foreign policy is erroneous” .
In the first example, an error in calculations caused the issuer to pay a larger amount than expected for a car. The second talks about a shipment that is lost due to an error in the recipient's information. The last is an opinion that describes as erroneous the way in which a government conducts its foreign policy .
Objectivity and subjectivity
In some contexts, error refers to an objective or concrete failure . Suppose that an individual, watching a television program, takes note of a recipe to prepare a cake. When the cook indicates that 500 grams of flour should be used, the viewer gets confused and writes 50 grams . Therefore, when you do the preparation, the result is disappointing. In this case there is an evident erroneous use of the ingredients, since the amount indicated by the chef was not used.
The classification of something as an error, however, may be due to an opinion or a subjective view . An economist can assure that the measures announced by an official are erroneous since, according to their vision , they will not contribute to generating greater activity or improving the situation of the inhabitants. For the official in question, however, it is a successful initiative.
In this framework we must make a distinction between an objective error (such as the one that occurs when confusing a step of a defined recipe) and a subjective one (if it is qualified as such through an opinion). Although it is not always easy to distinguish both categories, to classify an action or statement as erroneous and to do so objectively, it is necessary to have a solid and irrefutable theoretical basis, and that it is not an opinion. For example: bullying is wrong behavior because it unfairly causes harm to a child.
The same does not happen when talking about another's strategy: the economist who negatively criticizes the measures of an official cannot prove his opinion with facts, but does so merely from theory and experience. In fact, the same measure can be effective in one context and ineffective in another. Similarly, classifying an opinion as erroneous is not usually accepted, unless it is one that approves a procedure contrary to laws or morality: expressing taste for a movie, a dish of food or a sport cannot be incorrect nor correct.
There are erroneous behaviors that can also be classified as "erratic."
Not to be confused with "erratic"
On the other hand, it is important to mention that erroneous and erratic do not mean the same thing. The wrong is wrong, while the erratic is associated with the errant: with a frequent change of direction or course .
Of course, in some contexts, even their confusion may not be perceived very clearly, since their meanings - although expressly different - may refer to the same case. For example, the behavior of a person who is in a bad time and does nothing but make mistakes, such as indulging in vices and distancing himself from loved ones, can be described as "erratic" (for not having a direction). of course) but also as "erroneous" (since it is not correct).