this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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Maybe this isnt the right place to interject here: but yes, it now also means figuratively. Not because an authority said so, but because a sizable portion of native english speakers use it to mean figuratively. Thats how language works.
No, the authority said so. The OED regularly updates words and definitions in the dictionary based on colloquial usage. Literally also means figuratively according tho the oldest and most respected dictionary of the English language.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/literally
The OED is, again, descriptive. They observe the change in meaning and update their description accordingly.
Correct. You’ve just described how the language you’re using has come to be. It evolves over time, and the OED is the most respected documenter of that change. We don’t use the same English that was standard a century ago. Wheat is colloquial now is the standard.
That's a textbook appeal to popularity fallacy. Just because many people make the same mistake doesn't mean it becomes correct.
The most popular electric car brand is Tesla. That doesn't mean that Teslas don't have the build quality of a 1980s Yugo and the price tag of a brand new Jaguar.
Don't use other people being stupid as an excuse to be stupid, is what I'm saying.
No, that is just how linguistics work. Language is decided descriptively, not prescriptively
Nope, both descriptivism and prescriptivism have merit, depending on the specific case.
A lot of people using a word as having the opposite meaning out of pure ignorance and/or carelessness is one case where prescriptivism is warranted.
I'll die on this fucking hill 😄
Literally?
No, figuratively.
And you will die on a linguistically untenable hill. Redefining words had happened throughout history and language hasnt died out and its not gotten worse.
Is this your way of warning me against going hiking in Wales? 😉
Of course not. That's literally impossible. Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey.
That's of mixed veracity at best.
This is a bad comparison. Language absolutely works as described in the previous comment. While certain trends such as using "literally" to mean "figuratively", are personally super annoying, that doesn't change the fact it's 100% correct when enough people do it.