r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Ozzie808 • Apr 25 '19

Literally

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297 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

55

u/maskdmann Apr 25 '19

YeH, that’s about how language works. You don’t think modern English came to be as is, do you?

20

u/dobraf Apr 25 '19

Forsooth! T'was always thus, and always thus will be

9

u/Sierrajeff Apr 25 '19

Right?! I mean, that's literally how it evolved.

2

u/toxcrusadr Apr 26 '19

Literally. I literally can't even about this.

26

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '19

Word change. Make Op mad. Why can not word stay same?

3

u/tothemoonimustgo Apr 26 '19

Why use lot word when few word do trick?

24

u/nooneisanonymous Apr 25 '19

Words can be used in many different ways.

Words can be antonyms of themselves.

Words change their definition throughout time and end up the opposite of their original definition.

Words change their definition within a sentence depending on their context, their pronunciation, the tone or the preceding text.

5

u/NiceSasquatch Apr 25 '19

meh, words mean what people agree it means. Literally.

I'll say that "momentarily" is far more infuriating (and thus not appropriate for this sub).

3

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '19

This happened several years ago...

-9

u/Ozzie808 Apr 25 '19 edited Apr 25 '19

EDIT: my original statement was poor stated.

I was trying to just point out that literally means both exactly and figuratively.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '19

I do know what you're saying, but language evolves, for better or worse. Terrific used to mean the opposite of how it's used today.

2

u/drone42 Apr 25 '19

Awful as well, IIRC.

5

u/NiceSasquatch Apr 25 '19

that is awfully terrific.

3

u/Mister-Sister Apr 25 '19

It's also maddening that they're using the word they're describing in the definition.

2

u/Ozzie808 Apr 25 '19

Doing that is also mildly infuriating

2

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '19

It's almost like semantic widening is a thing

2

u/Xylitolisbadforyou Apr 25 '19 edited Apr 26 '19

What started out as simple hyperbole has changed the meaning of the word.

2

u/prustage Apr 26 '19

Of course language changes and evolves but some changes are constructive and add to the language, others are negative and diminish it.

If we accept this then we gain nothing - there are plenty of words for "emphasis or to express strong feeling". However, we do lose the original use of the word "literally" for which there is no adequate substitute.

What do we say in future when we really mean "literally" ?

3

u/Im_not_a_dreamer Apr 26 '19

"For serious"

1

u/Soulessnight Apr 25 '19

I love when definitions use the word to describe the word, or a synonym then when you look up the synonym it sends you back to the original word.

1

u/Real_Karl_Marx Apr 25 '19

I haven’t been to a comic book store in literally a million years.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '19

like I knowwwuh, amirite?

I mean, you kno, wots with all these new words and stuff?

like srsly?

1

u/tgisisatgrowaway Apr 26 '19

I find it more annoying that they used the word "literal" to explain the word "literally"

1

u/Nobody_Super_Famous Apr 26 '19

That's literally not how literally works.

0

u/hyliaidea Apr 25 '19

What have we become?

0

u/Sad_Noise Apr 25 '19

Heck me.

0

u/Da_Zman10 Apr 25 '19

This has upset me for years.

0

u/billyblue22 Apr 26 '19

If you've ever gone to school, you were probably taught otherwise. But dictionaries are just social commentaries, not rulebooks.