Re:It's a Fact: Opinions Are Not Facts
by lutusp on Tuesday February 12, 2013 @04:30PM
(#5209686)
> And yet that second definition came about due to incorrect usage of the term.
But there are no "incorrect" usages of words. Dictionaries are supposed to record how people use words, without judgment or rancor. Encyclopedias strive for correctness, but dictionaries are only meant to find out, and report, how people choose to use words.
In the old days of lexicography, scholars would find ten new uses of an existing word, or of a new word, and that was the criterion, the threshold for acceptance -- that new word, or that redefinition, was duly recorded. I think that's still the standard by which words are discovered or redefined.
The tl;dr: Encylopedias prescribe, dictionaries describe.
> So is "literally" as a virtual thing incorrect?
Wrong question. I think the only fair question is -- does this usage cause confusion? Well, yes, but since people use the word that way, what are you going to do? People are in charge of language, not scholars in an ivory tower.
But there are no "incorrect" usages of words. Dictionaries are supposed to record how people use words, without judgment or rancor. Encyclopedias strive for correctness, but dictionaries are only meant to find out, and report, how people choose to use words.
In the old days of lexicography, scholars would find ten new uses of an existing word, or of a new word, and that was the criterion, the threshold for acceptance -- that new word, or that redefinition, was duly recorded. I think that's still the standard by which words are discovered or redefined.
The tl;dr: Encylopedias prescribe, dictionaries describe.
> So is "literally" as a virtual thing incorrect?
Wrong question. I think the only fair question is -- does this usage cause confusion? Well, yes, but since people use the word that way, what are you going to do? People are in charge of language, not scholars in an ivory tower.