Every time the market goes down, which it does every ten minutes, media outlets across the board (and the globe) use terms like "lose" or "burn" or "wipe out", but why?

When the stock market goes up, the value of stock goes up, when the stock market goes down, the value of stock goes down - nothing is ever lost or gained until you sell.

Unless you're trading with leverage with stop loss, in which case I think you're a fool but that's just why.

I never trade. I buy, and sometimes I sell. But I always do it on my accord, which means when everything is in the read, I won't have "lost" anything unless and until I sell, which I don't.

By using these terms, people, who generally speaking are already financially illiterate, sort of image money is created out of nothing or burnt out of nothing.

It's confusing, and counterproductive.

On paper, I was wealthier two weeks ago than I am today, but that's assuming I was going to sell, which I wasn't.

I don't like this terminology. Is it just me?