Sounds like something that literally Hitler would say.
"Literally" literally does not mean "similar to in some way".
Submitted 1 day ago by LovableSidekick@lemmy.world to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
oyo@lemmy.zip 15 hours ago
Jolteon@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
He was a regular Nazi, so why wouldn’t he be a grammar Nazi as well?
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I don’t think he spoke enough English to understand what “literally” means, so I’d guess not.
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Shower thoughts = casual observations about shit everyone should know.
mhague@lemmy.world 1 day ago
People say it’s freezing outside, but it’s a few degrees above water becoming a solid. What gives?
They say they’re starving even though they just haven’t eaten all day.
People need to follow the rules when it comes to words or else we descend into chaos. It’s literally a highway to hell!
SaltSong@startrek.website 1 day ago
Right, that’s “speaking figuratively.” There are rules for that.
But a word that means the opposite of what it means is not a useful word.
I’d hate to find a box in my lab marked “inflammable.”
my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 20 hours ago
Plenty of words mean the opposite of themselves, so much so that there’s multiple words for it; autoantonym, contranym, or Janus words.
This morning my alarm went off so I turned it off.
I wanted to buy a new console as soon as it was out but they were all out.
Two people were left so I left.
I fought with Bob over chores, but I fought with Bob in the war.Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
Or a letter from my college saying that my club has been “sanctioned”.
voracitude@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Context is as important to language as syntax. If you see a box marked “inflammable” and the box is made of cardboard, you know it’s quite inflammable. If it’s made of metal, most people would think it’s inflammable, but if you’re in a lab you’ve probably got a few ways to prove them wrong.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Those are exaggerations, not comparisons.
Worthess@discuss.online 1 day ago
If it’s 32° it’s literally freezing outside(literally), 36° freezing outside (hyperbole)
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Sure, but you can literally use “literally” figuratively and people will still know what you mean
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
That’s what the word “figuratively” is for. You don’t say fat to mean figuratively thin.
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
The way I see it is that language inevitably evolves over time. Not all of those changes make sense to everybody, and not everybody likes them, but that they will keep occurring will stay true as long as language is what we use to communicate.
It’s all approximation anyway, so I just don’t think it matters very much as long as we understand each other. To each their own though.
Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 1 day ago
What a hot take.
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
But if something is “literally like” alleging else, does that not just equate to similar too since the literal definition of similar is to be like something else?
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Mere similarity implies incomplete equivalence.
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
Never thought about it like that actually, that’s good.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Yes, something that’s like something else is also literally like it, because literally emphasizes that it’s really true. But “I literally died laughing” is wrong unless you’re actually dead.
d00phy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
English is fluid. Give it time.
db2@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Literally literally means literally.
foggy@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
It also means “in effect; virtually”.
elevenbones@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Literally.