Sometimes youse dufes make my brain hurt! I'm lazy and retired now, so STOP IT!

Well heck, you sucked me in, so I guess I have to comment.

I think there are many grey (gray?) areas with the word and it can mean different things to different people. Through life, I've always used two different words, although they are very similar in meaning, to differentiate what has been talked about here. I may not be technically correct, but it just helps me personally to figure out which is which.

I've always figured (generally speaking of course) that I have no real control over my fate. It's just gonna happen.

On the flip side, I use the word destiny for the results of my personal decisions and actions.

It doesn't always work and there are a bazillion contradictions, but to simplify things, I can personally categorize my life that way.

Let's say I've smoked all my life, am a heavy drinker, do drugs, never exercise, am overweight, party like an animal, drive drunk ... you get the idea ... I'm "destined" to die young.

I had a cousin who was a health nut, exercised daily, played sports, ate all the right things, didn't smoke, drink or do drugs, but died at age 28 of a rare genetic disease he knew nothing about. I feel that was his "fate".

Right or wrong, it's kind'a how I look at it.