Comment on billionaires are a cancer on society [literally]

errer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  I think OP used literally correctly here. They are saying that one possible definition of the word cancer can include billionaires as an instance. That’s not the definition you’ll find in any dictionary, but those lag behind the true language as it evolves.

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  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    I think OP used literally correctly here.

    Then you do not understand what the word “literally” literally means.

    While several treatments would work for either, (such as carving up the offending subject with a knife, or sufficient application of chemical or radiative agents), billionaires are an economic problem, not a biologic one.

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    • tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Then you do not understand what the word “literally” literally means.

      Oooo, sick burn!! I don’t know if I’ll recover from that!

      My point is that I believe OP was using the word “literally” to mean what it literally means, and not just using it for emphasis as it is so often used these days. They may still be wrong, bit they did not misuse the word.

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      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        My point is that I believe OP was using the word “literally” to mean what it literally means,

        You can only rationally make that argument if you are claiming that “society” is a biological organism, like an amoeba or a babboon, presumably evolved from other common ancestors of all life on earth. When you can tell me the scientific name of this organism, and what organs have been affected by tumors, we can start talking about the literality of the “cancer” OP referred to.

        As the underlying logic was metaphorical, “literally” was used as figurative hyperbole, not literality.

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