"Literally" literally does not mean "similar to in some way".

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• oyo@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Sounds like something that literally Hitler would say.

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  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I don’t think he spoke enough English to understand what “literally” means, so I’d guess not.

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• Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What a hot take.

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• d00phy@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  English is fluid. Give it time.

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• db2@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Literally literally means literally.

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  • foggy@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It also means “in effect; virtually”.

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  • elevenbones@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Literally.

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• kelpie_returns@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  [deleted]

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  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That’s what the word “figuratively” is for. You don’t say fat to mean figuratively thin.

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• orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Shower thoughts = casual observations about shit everyone should know.

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• mhague@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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!

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  • Worthess@discuss.online ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If it’s 32° it’s literally freezing outside(literally), 36° freezing outside (hyperbole)

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  • SaltSong@startrek.website ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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.”

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    • voracitude@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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.

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    • my_hat_stinks@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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.

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    • Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Or a letter from my college saying that my club has been “sanctioned”.

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  • spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Those are exaggerations, not comparisons.

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• MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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?

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  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ 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.

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  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Mere similarity implies incomplete equivalence.

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    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Never thought about it like that actually, that’s good.

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