Am I going crazy? Did words change?

[chiasa]

I asked somewhere else in the forums about this - obviously the blog is the best place to see those changes, but unless you check them every week, some of those changes might slip through and we have to relearn them. -shrugs-

I did ask my Japanese coworkers about the verb とらえる specifically, and it seems like 捉える（とらえる）is used for more abstract concepts. You can see reference below:

@chiasa

According to my coworkers, 捉える (とらえる, same pronunciation) is used for more abstract concepts and 捕まえる is used for “moving/elusive objects,” such as a thief/泥棒 (どろぼう). So although the words are similar and the pronunciation is the same, the kanji is different. I imagine if you used it in conversation, you’d be understood based on context. (The example under jisho.org uses both kanji 捉える, and 捕える in the example sentence with the meaning, “to grasp,” which may be a mistake?) Reference here (Japanese only).