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What petty hill will you die on?
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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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Former linguistics grad student here: The meaning of "literal" is changing, and sentences like "That guy is literally 500 years old" are correct.
Sees you from a few hills away: Oh my gosh we’re literally right next to each other! 😜
Yes. Ling PhD here -- after teaching for 10+ years, the thing most people consistently do not understand about language is: the dictionary does not define what words mean. Dictionaries at best are a representation of what words meant at one time, and those meanings change quickly and pervasively enough that there is constantly a non-zero* number of words for which the dictionary is already wrong.
*in actuality it's probably significantly higher than what is connotated by "non-zero"
Yes, this is the excuse I use too when I mess up the pronunciation of a word and people have an issue with it. They understood the meaning so the communication was successful which is the point.
While I don't support language prescriptivism just for the sake of it, there should be a common understanding what words mean.
Otherwise language loses its function to accurately and effectively transport information, no?
I agree and will take it further. We don't even need to posit a change in the meaning of the word, we need only assume that when people use the word literally, they do not mean the word "literally" literally, they mean it figuratively.
Who says you have to use the word "literally" literally? You don't have to say the word "loudly" loudly!
As a fellow linguistics student here, completely agree. I randomly get those 'grammar nazis' like "doesnt that sort of stuff upset you?" like nahh man that stuff is fascinating! Don't lump me in with you, pleaseee.
So, what's the new word for what “literal” used to mean?
Deadass
Honestly, it’s also “literally”. Humans are complex lol.
This makes me irrationally mildly upset.
@KidDogDad
@thrawn21
How, then, would somebody be able to convey that somebody is literally 500 years old?
Do people actually use it that way anymore though? I haven't heard anybody do it in a long time.
I hear it all the time in my circles.
Haha good point. Come to think of it I haven’t heard it in a while, but I’m also not exactly running in circles where it would be used frequently.
Yeah, I haven't heard anyone say it like that in literally, like, 500 years!