3 ms·

Isn't this just how language evolves? Its why Old English is barely intelligible to us today.

• ryandrake 3y ago
  Language evolves, but slowly over generations. Not year to year. When someone is simply using a word incorrectly, they're using a word incorrectly. They're not evolving anything. If I say, "Can you grab that book over their?" or mistake Aloud for Allowed, this is not language evolving--I'm just using the wrong word.
  • jeremyjh 3y ago
    Every change has to start somewhere - and if it’s a change it will sound wrong to people at first. Mistakes could be the random mutations in this analogy.
• jraph 3y ago
  Yep, one of the many ways. One needs to understand why such word "misuses" angers them, and asks themselves whether it's really worth it to let something like this anger oneself. At the risk of committing a whataboutism, aren't there more fundamental things to be angry about? Wouldn't it be worth it to be able to be chill about these things and have a happier life?
• karaterobot 3y ago
  That's generally the response. My thought is: then how do you know when someone is just wrong? Why do teachers have red pens? While in aggregate, I suppose today's mistakes are tomorrow's standard usage, but individual acts may simply mean somebody doesn't have the best way of saying what they're trying to communicate.