4 ms·
I think the word 'literally' has gone the way of the emdash
by jorisw 4mo ago
I think the word 'literally' has gone the way of the emdash
- iso1631 4mo agoliterally has had two meanings for decades, maybe centuries 1) Literally Literally 2) Figuratively It's semantic bleaching
- goodmythical 4mo agoNot sure why you're downvoted. People have literally been using literally both ways for at at least 25 years by my own observational record. You know, "I could literally eat a horse." in which it is clearly understood that the speaker is not claiming that they could physically fit a horse inside their stomache.
- ndriscoll 4mo agoExcept in this case e.g. Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon actually did literally piss on the audience, so using the word literally to mean "not literally" is confusing because it's not obviously some exaggeration (and considering the timelines, the original comment may have been referring to a literal event but confusing who did it).
- iso1631 4mo agoLiterally literally didn't mean literally even when it meant literally and not figuratively https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/very-actually-and-other-examples-of-semantic-bleaching https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/very-actually-and-ot...
- ghaff 4mo agoThe em-dash has a fairly specific use. It's just that some people have decided that it indicates AI and can't resist trumpeting that supposed insight at every opportunity.
- trumpdong 4mo agoWell, they have some horror stories about them, so it's plausible, I just didn't find any evidence they specifically urinated on the audience.