this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not a native speaker and have a few questions about the first point:

  • What is "internet language" about the phrase "that's certainly a thing"? Isn't that just a normal sentence?
  • What the hell do the other two phrases mean?
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's no mechanical/grammar reason but the first one is used sarcastically. When someone thinks something is a big deal/great/awesome and you say back "well that's certainly a thing" it's implying that the only thing you agree on is that that thing exists, not that it's great.

The other two are nonsense and some people just find that funny.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the explanation!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

"That's certainly a thing" refers to phrases such as "You definitely said words." It expresses that one wants to acknowledge that something happened which demands commentary, but the commentary is self-evident, and thus sarcastically skipped.