I am Literally Disappointed
 

The Oxford English Dictionary has been amended to show that literally can now be used for emphasis and to mean metaphorically.

I can no longer snigger at phrases like "Michael Jackson literally exploded onto the music scene" or "In his youth, Michael Owen was literally a greyhound."
It takes some fun out of this pedant's life.

But hey, I accept pronunciation and meaning changes because that's part of English. Not going to go against the OED on this one. It's just galling to become a dinosaur at 41. Literally.

Fucking annoying.


It literally makes me want to claw my own eyes out.

God damn it!

Blood is not literally pouring out of my ears.

Geeesh, now I literally can't stop my G-daughter from using
"air quotes" and "literally" in literally every other sentence.

Thie litterally gives me the shits. I'll brb!

I think this is shite. Are they going to change the definition if the word 'bad' now? To include the opposite meaning like we do. "That car is bad." "Bad Ass"

Where will the madness end¿ I ask you.

I'm gonna watch porn. Literally.

If they have changed the meaning of literally, do you think they should change nonplussed to mean what it seems it should mean?

What does it seem it should mean?

It logically seems to mean "unenthused" or "not impressed," but in fact means "speechless." Many people use it when they intend the former meaning and don't even have any idea that it actually doesn't mean that at all.

OK, here's another change we should make...

"Next Friday" or whatever "Next XXXday" is to mean whenever I mean it to mean.





Oh wait. It's already used to mean that. :neutral:

Ahhh gotcha. It's always meant kind of stunned or confused into silence to me....bemused or taken aback by something.


That explains why someone once picked me up on my use of it on a forum. I'd used it (correctly) to say I was nonplussed by something someone had said to me. And someone posted 'are you sure you meant to say nonplussed'. Their comment made no sense to me...but now it kind of does. They must have thought nonplussed meant unimpressed or not enthused. When what I was trying to say was that something someone had said to me was so off kilter and unexpected I was entirely taken aback and had no idea how to respond.

Instead of changing words' meanings, we should be adding words.

Words like 'whattheidonteven'.

That definitely needs to be accepted as a proper word.

The dictionary isn't supposed to tell you what words mean, it's supposed to tell you what people mean when they say them.

I'm leaning heavily on the Gricean Maxims and the Cooperative Principle when I say this, but I'm also biting my tongue.



I don't think ignorance should be glorified, but neither should asshole-ish nitpicking. So there are two sides.

Bullshit. People look up words in a dictionary because they are unfamiliar with them and want to learn what they mean. Language evolves, but a dictionary shouldn't be reporting that evolution as it happens. It should be on a delay of at least 20 years. The only exception is when there are new words.

i literally will think you're a moron if you say 'irregardless.'

i don't care what fads dictate to dictionaries.

This!

This is literally the sickest thing I've heard all day! Awesome!

I think that people have been using 'literally' to mean 'figuratively' for literally 1000 years (by which I mean "more than 20 years").

I wish we were still using the word 'prithee' so that I could say, " I prithee you all to stop being so damn literal " ;)

Sorry can't resist:

'prithee, stop being so damn literal'
Stop, prithee, being so damn literal'

At a push you could say 'I prithee'

Usually, the 'I' was inferred, and there's no need for 'you' since that's included in the word ('thee')

*smiles*

Well. Don't hold back, buddy, tell me how you really feel.

What about, "I prithee the fool!"

:lol2:

Dana that was just a 'southern [USA] rendition of English English ...you all or the ever popular y'all I wanted to make sure to leave no one out. I prithee forgive me ;)

:blush:
OK. "Bullshit" is not meant to insult you, bullshit is for the idea that a dictionary should put incorrect definitions down for words, just because some people use the word incorrectly out of ignorance.

If the incorrect usage was deliberate, to make a point and convey meaning, then I could see making a note of it, but it's pure ignorance.

I just spent 10 minutes taking a customer satisfaction survey about a recent bank visit... and throughout the phone call, the poor kid kept asking about my "satis-fi-cation."

To be fair, a lot of people do use it deliberately to make a point and convey meaning, specifically a particular kind of emphasis, subverting the word for comic effect.

Unfortunately, by including the new definition rather than simply noting this unorthodox use they give a licence to all the numpties who don't actually know the meaning and take away our god given right to pick them up on their ignorance.

Dana, Isn't that how "exact same" has come about ?
... it is everywhere now, even in TV commercials.

I assume so aye. I have even used it myself in speech and forum posts (I think ... difficult to pin down) but as a colloquialism. I think, to be entirely honest, it's something I picked up from forums :P I remember being very uncomfortable with it at one time. Really grated on my nerves, but then you read it so often it loses its sting.

I always thought of exact and same as two different parameters, like accurate and precise. One says whether you've hit the target at all, the other says how small your arrow was.

yeah, but it's a corruption of 'exactly the same'.

I keep hearing in my head every time I see this thread "I am disappoint" :blush:

hahahahaahahah. Now so will I lol

It's not the size of the arrow but whether you can find the target and then hit it. Repeatedly. But not too hard at first and not too fast, either. It helps to have lots of arrows, too.

So I'm told.

Meanwhile, back on topic, I'm figuratively going to have to literally change my game plan, via a via educating my kids to my satisfication.

Vis a vis

Ducking tapatalk

maybe if we all adopt that phrasing for a few months they'll change the dictionary to include via a via.

I like your 'can do' attitude.

This should be in the NSFW thread, seriously.

Irregardless, this thread had been invaluable to me.

I like it when auto correct changes fucking to ducking. Quack!

http://cellar.org/2013/motarpestle.jpg

I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused

Did you take that? That looks like Bed Bath and Beyond.

edit: and for some reason I've got Elvis Costello going around in my brain.

Yes, I took this at a dollar store kind of place on Sunday.

.

You have a vivid imagination.

It's one of my best traits.

And now, WAIT...FOR... IT...
Gotcha! :p:

Say what now?

I was just tail posting 2 more words that are used opposite of their !'literal'! definitions.

see? How the hell am I supposed to convey that I actually want to use the word 'literal' in the way that God , little baby Jesus, and Santa Claus intended!?

You leave poop bags hanging on trees and make Baby Jebus and Santa cry.
Literally.

Oh and you piss like a racist.

I am literal disapoint.

maybe he's just being humerus, you know, bone headed.

You certainly are, Stanley. :p:

This could have gone in the Products I never knew dept. as well.

Attachment 45897

From The Literary Gift Company.