this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
146 points (100.0% liked)

Chat

7508 readers
22 users here now

Relaxed section for discussion and debate that doesn't fit anywhere else. Whether it's advice, how your week is going, a link that's at the back of your mind, or something like that, it can likely go here.


Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For me I say that a truck with a cab longer than its bed is not a truck, but an SUV with an overgrown bumper.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] KidDogDad@beehaw.org 10 points 2 years ago (8 children)

Former linguistics grad student here: The meaning of "literal" is changing, and sentences like "That guy is literally 500 years old" are correct.

[–] HalJor@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

[Waves from the other hill] I will never accept that usage of "literal" as correct.

[–] KidDogDad@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

Sees you from a few hills away: Oh my gosh we’re literally right next to each other! 😜

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago

Yes. Ling PhD here -- after teaching for 10+ years, the thing most people consistently do not understand about language is: the dictionary does not define what words mean. Dictionaries at best are a representation of what words meant at one time, and those meanings change quickly and pervasively enough that there is constantly a non-zero* number of words for which the dictionary is already wrong.

*in actuality it's probably significantly higher than what is connotated by "non-zero"

[–] Zummy@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

As a fellow linguistics student here, completely agree. I randomly get those 'grammar nazis' like "doesnt that sort of stuff upset you?" like nahh man that stuff is fascinating! Don't lump me in with you, pleaseee.

[–] sorchist@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

I agree and will take it further. We don't even need to posit a change in the meaning of the word, we need only assume that when people use the word literally, they do not mean the word "literally" literally, they mean it figuratively.

Who says you have to use the word "literally" literally? You don't have to say the word "loudly" loudly!

[–] Kaldo@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

This makes me irrationally mildly upset.

[–] CarlsIII@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

@KidDogDad

@thrawn21

How, then, would somebody be able to convey that somebody is literally 500 years old?

[–] argv_minus_one@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

So, what's the new word for what “literal” used to mean?

[–] KidDogDad@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Honestly, it’s also “literally”. Humans are complex lol.

[–] HalJor@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Back when I was in grade school, there were kids saying "as long as you know what I mean, it doesn't matter". If a word means two different/conflicting things, how can we possibly know what you mean? See also: bimonthly.

[–] yozul@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Do people actually use it that way anymore though? I haven't heard anybody do it in a long time.

[–] reric88@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah, I haven't heard anyone say it like that in literally, like, 500 years!

[–] KidDogDad@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Haha good point. Come to think of it I haven’t heard it in a while, but I’m also not exactly running in circles where it would be used frequently.

[–] metaltoilet@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

I hear it all the time in my circles.