TheMightyEthan Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Apparently "figuratively" is officially in the dictionary as a definition of "literally". This literally makes me want to stab someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Apparently "figuratively" is officially in the dictionary as a definition of "literally". This literally makes me want to stab someone. And people wonder why I fight so hard against the people that believe language should just be whatever is the popular meaning of something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Most of the time I'm okay with language evolving (which is not to say that every common mistake becomes correct just because it's common), but this one specifically really bothers me because it's "evolved" to mean the exact opposite of what it really means. It essentially makes the word useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Most of the time I'm okay with language evolving (which is not to say that every common mistake becomes correct just because it's common), but this one specifically really bothers me because it's "evolved" to mean the exact opposite of what it really means. It essentially makes the word useless. Do you remember when bad meant good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Bad meant cool, there's at least some kind of distinction there. Also I thought that one was dumb too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) Apparently "figuratively" is officially in the dictionary as a definition of "literally". This literally makes me want to stab someone. And people wonder why I fight so hard against the people that believe language should just be whatever is the popular meaning of something Except... That's not a belief. That's literally a fact. Words only mean what a group of people commonly use them as. It's not as reductive or challenging an idea as it sounds. It's logic. But obviously certain semantic changes make a lot less sense than other ones and will lead to more confusion than other ones. And when "group" refers to a whole country, when speakers of the same language come from many huge countries, more problems arise. Like a few hundred years ago you'd probably be flipping out about how the commoners had turned the word "sophisticated" from meaning "wrong, disconnected" into meaning "high brow, discriminating." Swings and roundabouts. Now, nobody bats an eyelid. A hundred years from now, nobody will bat an eyelid at what Figuratively or Literally mean. Signifiers change, signs and signified remain the same, yadda yadda. Also, Flying Gerbil, I love that GB/UK/British Isles venn-ey diagram. Really bothers me when people say "I don't believe in an independent Scotland, I mean, why would you want to leave Britain?" And I'm like "if we got independence we would still be part of Britain you dang idiot". Edited August 3, 2014 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted August 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 Big enough saw and an outboard motor and I'm sure Scotland could be independent of Britain too. But yeah what Kenshi has said is correct, the fact an American is calling out that language shouldn't change is hypocrisy of the highest order. As the thread itself should be a testament to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 I'm not saying it shouldn't change, just that this particular change is stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted August 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 Kenshi and I were responding to FDS. You said you were okay with language evolving. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 Seems like American English has changed a lot less than British English though. Nearly every time I check on differences AmE has kept the original meaning/pronunciation from when they left Britain and it's us that's evolved the meaning. Having said that I agree language does and should evolve. Doesn't mean every instance is agreeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted August 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2014 Several hundred years, with one side specifically changing their dictionary. Nevermind the fact US wasn't entirely composed of British too, be a bit odd to have many towns and surnames of Dutch, German, French origin and beyond and not a single drop of it touching day to day language. E.g we wear trousers, Americans wear pants. The french wear pantaloons. It's like that factoid that gets thrown out now and then (though thankfully less and less lately) about the American accent being closer to a C18th British accent than the C21st accent. Which is utter bollocks when you take into account there is no "American accent" or "British accent". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted August 4, 2014 Report Share Posted August 4, 2014 "Trousers" is still very much in American English fashion language, actually. It's a category word, I think; blue jeans, dress slacks, and sweatpants are all trousers (and the leg-tube portion of any body-covering clothing, such as overalls, might be called the "trouser," though I am not certain on this point). Women tend to use it more than men, which I only learned recently from my fiancee who works at a fashion magazine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 "What's uptalk?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28708526 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 I completely disagree that uptalk is acceptable in American English. It makes the speaker sound extremely insecure and unprofessional. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted August 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 I was reading that yesterday and have no idea what the fuck it's going on about. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrp_yzIsXkk Something interesting mentioned in the article that I didn't mention before is that it said that Americans typically think of it coming from teenage girls from California, while Brits typically think of it coming from Australia. The reason that's interesting to me is I have noticed on the radio or TV seemingly whenever there's an Australian woman on she says everything like it's a question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 I was reading that yesterday and have no idea what the fuck it's going on about. Wow, seriously? I thought everyone knew about Australian's 'going up at the end of sentences'. I even recall Stephen Fry talking about it as the article mentions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted August 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm probably going to have to find chance to watch Ethans video, but yeah seriously I haven't a clue what it's going on about. I'm not exactly a linguist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) Have GOH and I just stumbled upon another point of contention in the status threads? He Google searches for "suspenders" and gets the elastic straps which hold up a man's legwear. I Google search for "suspenders" and get women's underwear support, eg this. Yeah... oggle away. Over here we call men's trouser supports "braces". A very confusing moment for everyone involved. Although I just tried a Google Image search instead of just a regular search, and I do indeed get braces instead of womens' suspenders. EDIT: also uptalking is incredibly annoying. And, now living in Glasgow, almost everyone does it. But the Glaswegian accent is so great that it's not too bothersome anyway. Edited August 12, 2014 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 12, 2014 Report Share Posted August 12, 2014 The thing you would call suspenders we would call a garter belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted August 13, 2014 Report Share Posted August 13, 2014 They're the same fucking thing for different parts of your body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted August 13, 2014 Report Share Posted August 13, 2014 The women's clothing piece is also called suspenders here. But the word "suspenders" conjures up the men's trouser-suspension piece of clothing to the vast majority of Americans. Fun fact: neo-nazi skinheads in the US call them bracers, though, at least in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted August 13, 2014 Report Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) Fun fact noted and... enjoyed? FDS: obviously they do the same thing. Most of the oddity here was how radically different our Google searches were. I always wonder how much search results are geographically skewed. EDIT: also my first encounter with this problem was literally last week when I said to my gf "I'm gonna buy some suspenders!" and she said "what? haha, this i'd like to see," and I replied with "what?" and she said "i didn't know you were into that sort of thing, you sure you want suspenders?" mockingly and i said "what?" and it continued until she humiliated me by saying I want braces and that suspenders are what girls wear. Edited August 13, 2014 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted August 13, 2014 Report Share Posted August 13, 2014 Google DEFINITELY changes its results based on location, even for searches on desktop computers. I even enabled it to do so as part of my google profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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