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I think that ship has sailed, since the meaning has been in use for almost 50 years now. As someone who can't stand the use of "they" as a singular pronoun, I

I think that ship has sailed, since the meaning has been in use for almost 50 years now. As someone who can't stand the use of "they" as a singular pronoun, I also understand fights against the evolution of language are battles that I won't win.

thechao 8y ago
“They” as a singular, gender neutral, pronoun dates back to the 14th c. Practically every word you use postdates its use that way. The use of “literally” to mean “figuratively” is nearly as old.
- filleduchaos 8y ago
  And I'm willing to bet they use the singular they quite often without even realizing it
- somecontext 8y ago
  In case anyone was curious, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally states R"(This type of usage is common in informal speech ("she was literally in floods of tears") and is attested since 1769.)"
- Dylan16807 8y ago
  > The use of “literally” to mean “figuratively” is nearly as old. Please please don't say that. It is not being used to mean that. It is being used in a figurative way to mean "very". This is an ironic but relatively minor shift. It's in no danger of becoming its own opposite.
  - xmonkee 8y ago
    It’s no different than saying “really”. As in, “I’m really ready to kill myself”. Of course, it doesn’t mean “in reality”. It’s an intensifier, just like “literally”
amha 8y ago
The ship may have sailed, but we can still turn it around! I like the idea of recapturing "vanilla" as not meaning "plain."
Camillo 8y ago
If you want to watch helplessly as a word is ruined in real time, I recommend "iconic". I'm not even sure what it's supposed to mean any more: in informal speech it seems to be a synonym of "awesome", which by now has devolved into another word for "good".
quadrangle 8y ago
Singular they is a totally different issue. Vanilla = plain is a metaphor. Singular they is a syntax issue. These are processed totally differently in our minds/brains. Both we come to accept with enough usage and good attitude, but they have very different significance in language. Most people who don't start knowing singular they find it a true syntax error, the sort like a P600 response in an EEG test. It's deeply irksome. But then with familiarity, it goes away. Metaphors don't have such a deep language processing issue, they just have semantic meaning that we accept or not and our objections live at a far more intellectual level.

thechao 8y ago

“They” as a singular, gender neutral, pronoun dates back to the 14th c. Practically every word you use postdates its use that way. The use of “literally” to mean “figuratively” is nearly as old.

filleduchaos 8y ago
And I'm willing to bet they use the singular they quite often without even realizing it
somecontext 8y ago
In case anyone was curious, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally states R"(This type of usage is common in informal speech ("she was literally in floods of tears") and is attested since 1769.)"
Dylan16807 8y ago
> The use of “literally” to mean “figuratively” is nearly as old. Please please don't say that. It is not being used to mean that. It is being used in a figurative way to mean "very". This is an ironic but relatively minor shift. It's in no danger of becoming its own opposite.
- xmonkee 8y ago
  It’s no different than saying “really”. As in, “I’m really ready to kill myself”. Of course, it doesn’t mean “in reality”. It’s an intensifier, just like “literally”

amha 8y ago

The ship may have sailed, but we can still turn it around! I like the idea of recapturing "vanilla" as not meaning "plain."

Camillo 8y ago

If you want to watch helplessly as a word is ruined in real time, I recommend "iconic". I'm not even sure what it's supposed to mean any more: in informal speech it seems to be a synonym of "awesome", which by now has devolved into another word for "good".

quadrangle 8y ago

Singular they is a totally different issue. Vanilla = plain is a metaphor. Singular they is a syntax issue. These are processed totally differently in our minds/brains. Both we come to accept with enough usage and good attitude, but they have very different significance in language. Most people who don't start knowing singular they find it a true syntax error, the sort like a P600 response in an EEG test. It's deeply irksome. But then with familiarity, it goes away. Metaphors don't have such a deep language processing issue, they just have semantic meaning that we accept or not and our objections live at a far more intellectual level.