Re:Benefits of Sarcasm
by coldtea on Thursday November 19, 2015 @02:45PM
(#10597048)
>And also let us not forget that dictionaries are not authoritative sources for word definitions of living languages, they are historical records.
>Words mean whatever their users intend.
Words mean whatever MOST users intend, sure. But that's not entirely arbitrary, and doesn't mean there's not also abuse.
E.g. there are also lots of of people who genuinely can't tell "their" from "they're". The English language isn't gonna change anytime soon to accommodate their usage of it.
>My favourite recent example of this is 'literally' which once meant "actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy" and has now come to also mean it's direct opposite: "in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually".
Yeah, that use has been included in dictionaries for a while -- and the use of "literally" to mean "virtually" goes back to even before Shakespeare.
In general modern dictionaries stay well on top of language trends. If there's a word usage that's not included yet, it's probably either a fad or too recent and constrained to deserve an entry (like "putting the p.... on the chainwax").
Another classic example, "awful" is said to originally mean "worthy of awe" back in the day...
>Words mean whatever their users intend.
Words mean whatever MOST users intend, sure. But that's not entirely arbitrary, and doesn't mean there's not also abuse.
E.g. there are also lots of of people who genuinely can't tell "their" from "they're". The English language isn't gonna change anytime soon to accommodate their usage of it.
>My favourite recent example of this is 'literally' which once meant "actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy" and has now come to also mean it's direct opposite: "in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually".
Yeah, that use has been included in dictionaries for a while -- and the use of "literally" to mean "virtually" goes back to even before Shakespeare.
In general modern dictionaries stay well on top of language trends. If there's a word usage that's not included yet, it's probably either a fad or too recent and constrained to deserve an entry (like "putting the p.... on the chainwax").
Another classic example, "awful" is said to originally mean "worthy of awe" back in the day...