• @pjwestin
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    610 months ago

    Downvoting for misuse of, “Literally.”

    • @[email protected]OP
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      fedilink
      310 months ago

      I chose my words carefully.

      Nov. 28, 11:13 pm: Called on the government to “come down hard” on MSNBC and “make them pay” for its critical coverage of Republicans, after previously vowing to investigate parent company Comcast if elected.

      Trump made a “pledge” to “root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” in a Truth Social post Saturday “in honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day.”

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/11/12/trump-compares-political-foes-to-vermin-on-veterans-day-echoing-nazi-propaganda/

      • @pjwestin
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        110 months ago

        I mean, that certainly strengthens the comparison, but it doesn’t change the fact that you mean, “figuratively.”

        • @HandBreadedTools
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          English
          110 months ago

          Incorrect. Literally has a legitimate colloquial use to refer to two things that are different but similar.

          Obviously nothing is ever literally something else, you do not need that to be explained to you to understand the intended meaning of the hyperbole. Don’t be intellectually dishonest.

          • @pjwestin
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            010 months ago

            A colloquial use can still be incorrect, irregardless of how common it is (and yes, I’m being ironical in my use of irregardless).

      • @pjwestin
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        110 months ago

        Yeah, but it’s just Websters that acknowledges the use of literally to mean, “virtually,” or, “figuratively,” and they’ve gotten so much shit for that they wrote 3 paragraphs after the definition and a whole separate article trying to justify it. It’s completely unjustifiable; their definition actually says, “a statement or description that is not literally true.” Normally you never want to define a word with the word itself, much less define it as the the opposite of the word itself, but that’s what happens when you try to turn an antonym into a synonym.

          • @pjwestin
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            110 months ago

            Yeah, but there’s a difference between a word that had contradictory meanings for generations and one dictionary changing it’s definition to reflect misuse.

        • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙
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          210 months ago

          The purpose of dictionaries is to reflect how the public uses a word. It would be correct of a dictionary to include this definition because it’s literally how the public uses the word literally. It must be frustrating when a definition changes, but it’s not like the dictionary has any actual authority outside of scrabble.

          • @pjwestin
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            110 months ago

            The purpose of a dictionary is also to provide clear definitions so that words have universal meanings. There’s a difference between adding a second definition to a word to reflect common slang, like adding the drug-related meaning to tweak, and accepting the misinterpretation of a word as correct, like irregardless. There’s a reason other reputable dictionaries like Oxford didn’t adopt the use of Literally to mean, “virtually,” (and it’s a little embarrassing that the American-English dictionary did).

              • @pjwestin
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                110 months ago

                Sorry, don’t follow. You mean like, “no lie?”

                • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙
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                  10 months ago

                  Well, what does the dictionary say? isn’t that the purpose of it? (to find meaning in modern language)

                  • @pjwestin
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                    110 months ago

                    I don’t see it on dictionary.com or Websters. I don’t see any problem with adding it as an alternate slang definition, but I feel like it’s gonna fall out of fashion before it gets used widely enough to justify adding it to a dictionary. I also don’t see how it relates to what I’m saying, since (as far as I know) it’s use doesn’t come from people not know what, “cap,” means.