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"No one" does not literally mean "not a single individual" in common English parlance, something that everyone (see what I did there?) here understands.
by satvikpendem 4mo ago
"No one" does not literally mean "not a single individual" in common English parlance, something that everyone (see what I did there?) here understands.
- breezybottom 4mo agoYes it does. If I'm asked how many people are in the pool and I respond "no one", that means not a single individual.
- satvikpendem 4mo agoThat's because you are asking for a specific count. If I am gauging the quality of some restaurant for example and someone said no one goes there, I would not assume that to mean not a single person goes there.
- DANmode 4mo agoIt literally does mean that. It figuratively does not. You’re not going to change the meaning of two words, here…
- satvikpendem 4mo agoLiterally does mean figuratively, since a few centuries ago, so no need to change the meaning of the word. Regardless, people understood what was meant, it seems only you are taking it, well, literally.
- DANmode 4mo ago[flagged]
- satvikpendem 4mo agoRead the HN guidelines, don't resort to insults just because you don't like the discourse.
- DANmode 4mo agoLiterally doesn’t mean figuratively - anymore than “yeet” means to remove. This isn’t discourse anymore. (Millions of cigarette smokers can be wrong!)
- tomhow 4mo agoBe kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer... Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html