I am Literally Disappointed

Sundae • Aug 18, 2013 2:45 pm
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.
DanaC • Aug 18, 2013 4:36 pm
Fucking annoying.


It literally makes me want to claw my own eyes out.
Griff • Aug 18, 2013 5:40 pm
God damn it!

Blood is not literally pouring out of my ears.
Lamplighter • Aug 18, 2013 5:51 pm
Geeesh, now I literally can't stop my G-daughter from using
"air quotes" and "literally" in literally every other sentence.
Aliantha • Aug 18, 2013 8:05 pm
Thie litterally gives me the shits. I'll brb!
lumberjim • Aug 19, 2013 2:08 pm
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.
Gravdigr • Aug 19, 2013 5:07 pm
I'm gonna watch porn. Literally.
Aliantha • Aug 19, 2013 6:23 pm
If they have changed the meaning of literally, do you think they should change nonplussed to mean what it seems it should mean?
DanaC • Aug 19, 2013 6:30 pm
What does it seem it should mean?
Clodfobble • Aug 19, 2013 7:17 pm
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.
Lamplighter • Aug 19, 2013 7:22 pm
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:
DanaC • Aug 20, 2013 7:13 am
Clodfobble;873801 wrote:
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.


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.
Gravdigr • Aug 20, 2013 5:03 pm
Instead of changing words' meanings, we should be adding words.

Words like 'whattheidonteven'.
DanaC • Aug 20, 2013 6:01 pm
That definitely needs to be accepted as a proper word.
Flint • Aug 20, 2013 6:21 pm
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.
glatt • Aug 20, 2013 9:30 pm
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.
infinite monkey • Aug 20, 2013 10:13 pm
i literally will think you're a moron if you say 'irregardless.'

i don't care what fads dictate to dictionaries.
DanaC • Aug 21, 2013 5:21 am
infinite monkey;873882 wrote:
i literally will think you're a moron if you say 'irregardless.'

i don't care what fads dictate to dictionaries.


This!
regular.joe • Aug 21, 2013 7:22 am
This is literally the sickest thing I've heard all day! Awesome!
Happy Monkey • Aug 21, 2013 2:17 pm
I think that people have been using 'literally' to mean 'figuratively' for literally 1000 years (by which I mean "more than 20 years").
Nirvana • Aug 21, 2013 3:32 pm
I wish we were still using the word 'prithee' so that I could say, " I prithee you all to stop being so damn literal " ;)
Happy Monkey • Aug 21, 2013 3:47 pm
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., 2000 wrote:
"For more than a hundred years, critics have remarked on the incoherency of using literally in a way that suggests the exact opposite of its primary sense of 'in a manner that accords with the literal sense of the words.' In 1926, for example, H.W. Fowler cited the example 'The 300,000 Unionists . . . will be literally thrown to the wolves.' The practice does not stem from a change in the meaning of literally itself--if it did, the word would long since have come to mean 'virtually' or 'figuratively'--but from a natural tendency to use the word as a general intensive, as in They had literally no help from the government on the project, where no contrast with the figurative sense of the words is intended."
DanaC • Aug 21, 2013 3:53 pm
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*
Flint • Aug 21, 2013 3:54 pm
glatt;873879 wrote:
Bullshit.
Well. Don't hold back, buddy, tell me how you really feel.

DanaC;873923 wrote:

At a push you could say 'I prithee'


What about, "I prithee the fool!"
Nirvana • Aug 21, 2013 5:13 pm
:lol2:
Nirvana • Aug 21, 2013 5:21 pm
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 ;)
glatt • Aug 21, 2013 6:03 pm
Flint;873924 wrote:
Well. Don't hold back, buddy, tell me how you really feel.

: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.
Clodfobble • Aug 21, 2013 7:14 pm
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."
DanaC • Aug 21, 2013 7:19 pm
glatt;873931 wrote:
: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.


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.
Lamplighter • Aug 21, 2013 9:28 pm
Dana, Isn't that how "exact same" has come about ?
... it is everywhere now, even in TV commercials.
DanaC • Aug 22, 2013 6:16 am
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.
Clodfobble • Aug 22, 2013 9:09 am
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.
DanaC • Aug 22, 2013 10:20 am
yeah, but it's a corruption of 'exactly the same'.
Nirvana • Aug 22, 2013 11:16 am
I keep hearing in my head every time I see this thread "I am disappoint" :blush:
DanaC • Aug 22, 2013 11:20 am
hahahahaahahah. Now so will I lol
footfootfoot • Aug 22, 2013 6:12 pm
Clodfobble;873957 wrote:
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.


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.
footfootfoot • Aug 22, 2013 6:13 pm
Vis a vis

Ducking tapatalk
DanaC • Aug 23, 2013 6:50 am
maybe if we all adopt that phrasing for a few months they'll change the dictionary to include via a via.
footfootfoot • Aug 26, 2013 3:32 pm
DanaC;874015 wrote:
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.
orthodoc • Aug 26, 2013 6:56 pm
footfootfoot;873994 wrote:
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.


This should be in the NSFW thread, seriously.
lumberjim • Aug 27, 2013 7:06 am
Irregardless, this thread had been invaluable to me.
lumberjim • Aug 27, 2013 7:07 am
footfootfoot;873995 wrote:
Vis a vis

Ducking tapatalk


I like it when auto correct changes fucking to ducking. Quack!
Undertoad • Aug 27, 2013 3:25 pm
Image

I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused
glatt • Aug 27, 2013 3:45 pm
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.
Undertoad • Aug 27, 2013 3:48 pm
Yes, I took this at a dollar store kind of place on Sunday.
footfootfoot • Aug 27, 2013 6:58 pm
.
footfootfoot • Aug 27, 2013 7:09 pm
orthodoc;874267 wrote:
This should be in the NSFW thread, seriously.


You have a vivid imagination.
orthodoc • Aug 27, 2013 7:12 pm
It's one of my best traits.
sexobon • Aug 27, 2013 11:08 pm
lumberjim;515118 wrote:
NoBoxes wrote:
I think this is just lumberjim's way of hinting that he wants a home treadmill for Christmas; but, to dispel the myth that reindeer can land on rooftops without damaging the structures, reindeer actually enter into low level synchronous earth orbit scant few millimeters above the roofs while Santa does his thing. When reindeer deviate from synchronous orbit or effect a change in altitude, they are "flying" irregardless of whatever is moving beneath them.


I'm afraid your argument is invalidated by the use of the term, 'irregardless'


NoBoxes;515379 wrote:
My favorite definition of the word "irregardless" comes from an old hard-bound Webster's New World Dictionary I have which defines the word as: "a substandard or humorous redundancy for REGARDLESS." [bold type mine] I enjoy using it when writing humorous pieces.

For the entertainment of those who would belittle its use, I submit this article: Off topic: In defense of 'irregardless' ;)

[SIZE="4"]And now, WAIT...FOR... IT...[/SIZE]
lumberjim;874293 wrote:
Irregardless, this thread had been invaluable to me.

Gotcha! :p:
lumberjim • Aug 28, 2013 8:10 am
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!?
Sundae • Aug 28, 2013 8:19 am
You leave poop bags hanging on trees and make Baby Jebus and Santa cry.
Literally.

Oh and you piss like a racist.
regular.joe • Aug 28, 2013 8:23 am
I am literal disapoint.
BigV • Aug 28, 2013 1:12 pm
lumberjim;874380 wrote:
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!?


maybe he's just being humerus, you know, bone headed.
sexobon • Aug 28, 2013 8:10 pm
regular.joe;874383 wrote:
I am literal disapoint.

You certainly are, Stanley. :p:
Pete Zicato • Oct 31, 2013 10:16 am
This could have gone in the Products I never knew dept. as well.

[ATTACH]45897[/ATTACH]

From The Literary Gift Company.