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AWS is quite literally a printing press for Amazon that prints it $$ and let's it devour other competitors in the retail eCommerce segment by selling at close t
by Cephalopterus 7y ago
AWS is quite literally a printing press for Amazon that prints it $$ and let's it devour other competitors in the retail eCommerce segment by selling at close to no margins. They need to keep the AWS quality decent because unlike their retail customers, corporations using them can vote with their wallet and/or possibly sue if there's any actual misselling
- lawnchair_larry 7y agoI think you mean figuratively
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoIn informal usage, "literally" is used to provide emphasis. Literally, in this context, doesn't mean literally true. It's a figure of speech. Example: You might've heard a phrase like "I was literally blown away by the response I got" (probably from a vlogger). Nobody in English would say, "I was figuratively blown away by the response I got", because it's obvious the person is speaking figuratively. Here, literally is meant to emphasize just how effective AWS is acting analogously to the Treasury's money printing presses.
- Buge 7y agoWhen there's a word with 2 meanings that are almost opposites of each other, that's confusing. I think it's good to avoid using words in confusing ways like that. https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?t=163 https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?t=163
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoAdd this to the list of quirks of the English language.
- dhimes 7y agoAnd especially that world. “Literally” has also meant “figuratively” for over 150 years [https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite...] I used to argue the other way too, then one day on a whim I looked it up. I was surprised.
- malnourish 7y agoI love Weird Al; but there's rarely confusion with the word "literally", else it would have fallen out of usage long ago. When someone says "it's literally a printing press" about something that is obviously not a printing press, you know that they are using literally as it has been used for hundreds of years[0]: for strong emphasis. [0]: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109061 https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109061 definition 1c.
- Stratoscope 7y agoEnglish is full of words and phrases that mean something different from their literal meaning. Another classic example is "I could care less." Steven Pinker wrote about this in detail in The Language Instinct. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less.html https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less... When someone says "I literally could care less", everyone listening knows what they mean. There is no confusion and no need to worry about whether they are literally correct. This is just part of the fun and wonder of the English language.
- Retric 7y agoThe literal definition works fine. Consider the related “it’s possible for me to care less” suggesting a preference exists, but it’s negligible. That’s generally how people mean “I could care less”. Which oddly enough means the literal difference between “I (could/couldn’t) care less.” is practically meaningless.
- BLKNSLVR 7y agoI'm not sure if you intentionally chose a phrase that's usually mistakenly used to also mean the opposite - and then add literally to it. When I hear someone say "I could care less" when they mean "I couldn't care less" then I tend to understand that they value their words, language, and meaning less than I do mine. They're unintentionally signaling to me that what they're saying isn't necessarily what they mean, and so I factor that into my understanding of, belief in, and reliance upon, whatever they may say.
- Stratoscope 7y agoI am glad that you value words, language, and meaning. So do I. But people who say "I could care less" are usually not mistaken. They know full well what they mean, and that the phrase seems to say the opposite of its literal meaning. It's a great example of irony and sarcasm, both of which have a rich history in English, and probably in most languages. Pinker has a fine discussion of the phrase in the book I mentioned. I can't do it justice here, but consider how the phrase is spoken. I will use italics to indicate emphasis: I could care less. Try saying that out loud a few times with emphasis on the italicized words. You may start to hear the ironic and sarcastic intent. English would be a much poorer language if we could only use words and phrases in their most literal meaning. Also consider the context. "I could care less" is used in casual speech, where it's perfectly OK to play with the language and have fun with it. That is quite different from, say, a manual on how to operate a piece of machinery, or any other kind of technical documentation. There of course you want to be as clear, explicit, and unambiguous as possible. But I wouldn't judge someone's ability to write a clear technical manual based on their enjoyment of irony in more casual speech or writing.
- thiagomgd 7y agoThis is literally the dumbest thing to do with a word. I mean literally, not literally.
- jjoonathan 7y agoI understand that English is defined by those who speak it, not by committee, and that the colloquial use of the word "literally" as an intensifier is widespread. I still think the word "literally" is worth fighting for. It would be a pity to turn a word with such precise, significant, and unique meaning into yet another mediocre intensifier, of which we have dozens. In doing so, we would not merely add a definition, we would destroy the old one. So, I'm with GP: the word "literally" doesn't fit the context and ought to be replaced.
- malnourish 7y ago"Literally" has been used in the contemporary colloquial sense since at least 1769[0]. [0]: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109061 https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109061 definition 1c
- jjoonathan 7y agoThen it has been worth fighting for since at least 1769.
- malnourish 7y agoI think the battle has long been lost
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Wowfunhappy 7y agoThis. I'm all for treating language as the living thing it is. However, "literally" is a very useful word and there's noting else quite like it. If "literally" can mean both literally and the exact opposite of literally, it becomes devoid of meaning.
- BLKNSLVR 7y agoIn informal usage, "literally" is used to mean it's literal opposite "figuratively". Which I find literally demonstrative of human nature. "Informal" tends to mean "wrong", "bastardised", or "misappropriated". So I think we're all actually on the same page.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoWhat place does informal usage have in our speech, if only to be immediately corrected when it is used? When a commenter said, "No, you meant X", that statement in itself is wrong because the other poster intentionally used the colloquial definition.
- agumonkey 7y agopeople cite aws/amazon, there's also uber/vc that leverage massive funds to grow shaky business models without constraints.. how many others (if any, I'm genuinely curious)
- vineyardmike 7y agoGoogle Ads/EverythingElseAlphabet For what its worth, Amazon Retail has been (or could be, depending on quarter) profitable on its own. It's certainly not a shaky business model, shaky margins maybe. Similarly, Uber is a sound business model (taxis exist for a while), just an unsound price point.
- agumonkey 7y agoI don't know, Uber 'lets race to the bottom to kill everybody else' seems everything but sound. Amazon is operating weirdly (random pricing now) even though it's true the financial side is probably normal.