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If you were on HN a decade ago, you would have seen "pivot" all over the place. Times change, but we are still human (mostly) and it seems to be part of who we
by whyenot 3y ago
If you were on HN a decade ago, you would have seen "pivot" all over the place. Times change, but we are still human (mostly) and it seems to be part of who we are to mold language to fit our needs and circumstances.
Take "bipping," a word I had never seen before a month ago, but that is now all over the place. (At least in some communities in the Bay Area; I guess all the car break-ins helped it's adoption).
- ShadowBanThis01 3y agoNever heard of that, and when I do I will gleefully mock whoever is using it.
- Operyl 3y agoIt’s almost as if the English language adapts over time. I’m sure in the 1580s when the word “Gleeful” was seemingly introduced people felt weird about it too, heh.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y agoThat's a convenient excuse for the lazy and ignorant.
- Operyl 3y agoHow so? The vast majority of the English language we use today, that’s “formal,” has been the evolution of what was “slang” back then. I don’t understand your argument here..
- ShadowBanThis01 3y agoIt'll always be a subjective argument. On one side you can have rigid formalists who hate any change. On the other there's no rules at all. I'm not at those extremes. I consider the origin of the word. A few years ago I started seeing "griefer," and it quickly became apparent that these people didn't know there was already a word for that: spoilsport. It's those instances that I bitch about, because it reflects ignorance and an unnecessary obfuscation of the language. I'm down with adding words, including slang, that didn't have an equivalent. One example of foreign origin, "bokeh," really serves a purpose: to describe the aesthetic quality of blurriness. Cool.
- Shocka1 3y agoThis is how I feel about the word "literally". I just assume at this point it's from an emotional person probably over indulging in politics.