Comment on What's a word that means a common saying which is arguably untrue?

littlebluespark@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• SuiXi3D@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Language is fun like that. Kinda like how ‘literally’ can, and often does, mean ‘figuratively’, which has the opposite meaning.

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  • Tranus@programming.dev ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It annoys me that people keep saying “figuratively” is what they mean instead of “literally”. “Figuratively” may be the opposite, and technically correct, but the use of the word “literally” in this way is to strengthen a statement. A more appropriate correction would be “actually” or “seriously”, which holds the intended meaning. “Figuratively” is the last thing it should be replaced with.

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  • voidMainVoid@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The meaning of a word doesn’t change just because you use it incorrectly.

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    • GiveOver@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It does if lots of people use it incorrectly

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    • Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That is literally how language works. Words only mean what we mean when we say them.

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      • voidMainVoid@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        So if I potato, you can ottoman?

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      • littlebluespark@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Language morphology, but you’re close. Except for that last sentence, technically. That’s some bullshit, right there. 🤣

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• scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Yep decimate is commuted that our lovely descriptivist dictionaries are now incorporating the incorrect use as correct. It’s too bad, too, because the word had a very specific meaning which is now lost. The language is less useful for changes like this.

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