3 ms·
lit·er·al·ly 1. in a literal manner or sense; exactly. 2. used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true. Words are literally
by lukifer 13y ago
lit·er·al·ly
1. in a literal manner or sense; exactly.
2. used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
Words are literally defined by how they are actually used by humans over time. If I hold up a sign saying "Free Donuts", no one is going to think I mean that pastries should be liberated. To unnecessarily cling to the word "free" when it has a more obvious secondary meaning is to tilt at windmills; there is no shortage of synonyms.
- tomflack 13y agoIf there is one argument it's impossible to win, it's an argument with people trying to impose their own "original" or "traditional" word usage over the more colloquial understanding of it's meaning.
- lucasnemeth 13y agoIf I say "A free bird", it's quite dubious if it is a free bird as in the beatles song, or if i'm giving away caged birds with no cost. The two meanings are quite common in the english language, it's not a pedantic invention of the FOSS community to make this distinction.