Hillary Clinton

[Cheetory6]

Hillary Clinton guys.

[xRECKONERx]

bro shut the fuck up

Guys this is over ecks head, speak like a 5th grader for him

eat my poop hole

toss my salad like you're out to lunch in williamsburg

unsure if insults or invitations

why not both

[Davsto]

Hillary Clinton guys.

why would you move a thread on-topic

[KuroiXHF]

Okay - let's try to use a less controversial example.

What does "awful" mean to you?

I think I know where you're going with this, but I'll bite. Awful, to me, means that something is seen as much less than satisfactory. (i.e: *Watched My Little Pony* "My God, that show was awful.*)

However, while I've rarely heard someone using it this way, it could mean "full of awe," as in full of amazement. I actually did a spell check because I thought, in that way, it would be spelled with an e, but I'm wrong.

[KuroiXHF]

Hillary Clinton guys.

That's more offensive than hearing people misuse the word "literally."

[Cheetory6]

That's more offensive than hearing people misuse the word "literally."

Is it literally?

[BROseidon]

Okay - let's try to use a less controversial example.

What does "awful" mean to you?

I think I know where you're going with this, but I'll bite. Awful, to me, means that something is seen as much less than satisfactory. (i.e: *Watched My Little Pony* "My God, that show was awful.*)

However, while I've rarely heard someone using it this way, it could mean "full of awe," as in full of amazement. I actually did a spell check because I thought, in that way, it would be spelled with an e, but I'm wrong.

Okay - awful originally meant inspiring wonder or fear. That was, hundreds of years ago, the only way that word was used. At a certain point (probably in the 16th century, based on when "awesome" starts to appear), the word changed meaning from something that inspires wonder or fear to something bad. In this instance, the word dropped its original meaning outright.

A closer example would be the word "cool." Originally, it meant something that was physically cold. At a certain point, the word also acquired a connotation of something that is attitudinally cold, which over time shifted to just mean trendy/hip.

Words change meaning over time, just like grammar changes and how things are pronounced changes. Semantic shift is a natural part of language change, and you can't call a usage "wrong" if it's broadly used. The word "literally" is a generic intensifier. It's been that way for hundreds of years. Bitching about it doesn't change that it's a meaning that every single person who hears it will understand. You seem to also not have an understanding of what linguistics is. Linguistics is the study of how language is used. Not how languages are "supposed" to be used, because that's dumb and tied a lot to sociological power structures. There is no "higher standard" to hold ourselves to because we're

describing

how people use language, not

prescribing

how to use it (which is, again, a really stupid exercise for middle school teachers).

[BROseidon]

For example, Kuroi, I bet you'd say the following sentence is "incorrect English:"

He be eating at that restaurant.

Because, by most prescriptivist sentiments in English, that is an ungrammatical sentence. The prestige-dialect of English, spoken primarily by rich white people, doesn't have that as a valid sentence. However, in other dialects of English, like African American Vernacular English, that is a completely grammatical sentence. Not only that, it means something different from "He is eating at that restaurant!"

[xRECKONERx]

bro shut up

[InflatablePie]

"this ablaut in Greek doesn't make sense, but it makes a fuckton of sense if you do this really abstract thing that works with other PIE languages."

like english?

[Davsto]

Something about Bro's last post just sorta feel shoehorned in because I don't really see how it's relevant to the topic at hand

[Davsto]

Like dialects is a whole different ballpark of linguistics to the growth and changing meaning of words

[BROseidon]

Like dialects is a whole different ballpark of linguistics to the growth and changing meaning of words

It falls into the ballpark of the mentality of what "correct" means.

[Davsto]

But it's mostly irrelevant to the topic at hand imo

Like, you're debating about "ooooh is the use of literally in its modern capacity correct etc"

You wrap up your point, nicely and cleanly

And then you just go "btw have i ever told you about dialects"

It just kinda irked me a little

[Psyche]

ima start reporting offtopic posts i dont even care

[SleepyKrew]

He be eating at that restaurant.

it means something different from "He is eating at that restaurant!"

?

[BROseidon]

Yes.

[BROseidon]

To elaborate:

The first one doesn't mean it's happening right now necessarily, but rather that it's something that happens frequently. The second one means it's happening right now.

For example, if Elmo is eating cookies in front of Cookie Monster, and Cookie Monster has cruelly been deprived of said cookies, then Elmo is the one eating cookies. However, Cookie Monster still

be

eating cookies (this was an actual sociolinguistics experiment done on young kids on the habitual be)

[SleepyKrew]

okay that's what I thought
but the first one still can mean the same as the second one right?

[BROseidon]

Not unless you're in a different dialect.

[BROseidon]

Like, in more "standard" dialects, the first one doesn't really mean the second one. You'd say something like "Cookie Monster is often eating cookies."

[SleepyKrew]

restaurant not cookie monster

[drmyshottyizsik]

I like linguistics. SIL is a big client of mine

[BROseidon]

restaurant not cookie monster

Same concept still applies.

[SleepyKrew]

okay I'm bored now