• applebusch (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1025·
    19 days ago

    i literally cant understand this perspective. septums are great. everyone looks better with a septum. i didnt start really liking my nose until i got mine. i hope you move past your hate someday to find the beauty of the septum piercing.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
      143·
      19 days ago

      Is this satire? How can you “literally not understand” the perspective that the unchanged human face would be preferable for some people over literally anything you could do to it?

      • velma@sh.itjust.works
        616·
        19 days ago

        Did we change the definition of ‘literally’?

        F. Scott Fitzgerald did it (“He literally glowed”). So did James Joyce (“Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet”), W. M. Thackeray (“I literally blazed with wit”), Charlotte Brontë (“she took me to herself, and proceeded literally to suffocate me with her unrestrained spirits”) and others of their ilk.

        But the fact that Charles Dickens used literally in a figurative sense (“‘Lift him out,’ said Squeers, after he had literally feasted his eyes, in silence, upon the culprit”) doesn’t stop readers from complaining about our definition. We define literally in two senses:

        1. in a literal sense or manner : actually
        2. in effect : virtually

        Some of our readers are not happy about this. Here are a few of the comments left at this entry:

        Definition 2: the dictionary is literally wrong.

        This is literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.

        I literally can’t even.

        Some people choose not to leave such comments on our site (perhaps they do not wish to hurt our feelings), but still want to make their displeasure clear. These people comment on other forums, as in this sample taken from a comment thread on dailykos.com:

        Considering that Merriam-Webster has redefined “literally” to mean “figuratively,” I’m going with literally.

        Our poor language, I’m figuratively about to hurl.

        Agreed! How you you [sic] agree to accept (I’m looking at you craven dictionary editors!) a word that means the exact opposite? It’s unfathomably stupid.

        Never trust anything but the OED…

        It’s fine to trust the OED, but you might want to check their definition first:

        literally, adv. 1c. colloq. Used to indicate that some (freq. conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: “virtually, as good as”; (also) “completely, utterly, absolutely.” —Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, Sept. 2011

        Aaargh! That doesn’t seem very literal at all! The dark forces of “figurative-literalism” must have gotten to them, perhaps by blackmailing the editors. Let’s look at how some other current dictionaries define this word.

        literally, adv. … 3.b. Used as an intensive before a figurative expression. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, 2016

        literally, adverb … 2. (intensifier) ⇒ there were literally thousands of people —Collins English Dictionary

        Literally every modern dictionary includes a definition for the metaphoric or intensifying sense of the word literally. Why do we hate the English language so?

        We don’t.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
          51·
          19 days ago

          I’m not even talking about the usage of literally. I just find it a really odd thing to do this “I really want others to know how invalid their view is” thing about.

          • velma@sh.itjust.works
            28·
            19 days ago

            i literally cant understand this perspective. septums are great. everyone looks better with a septum. i didnt start really liking my nose until i got mine. i hope you move past your hate someday to find the beauty of the septum piercing.

            You took issue with their use of “literally not understand”. They were clearly using the word literally as a figurative saying.

            They did the same thing as the commenter they replied to - where’s your comment criticizing the person saying all septum piercings look bad?

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
              61·
              19 days ago

              Thanks for telling me what I was thinking. Definitely not rude or weird to do at all. Now invent something else to be offended about.

              • velma@sh.itjust.works
                26·
                19 days ago

                Is this satire? How can you “literally not understand” the perspective that the unchanged human face would be preferable for some people over literally anything you could do to it?

                I read your comment where you clearly quote what you took issue with and all I did was reply that they weren’t using “literally”…literally lol

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
                  31·
                  19 days ago

                  I attempted to correct you on what I meant however you didn’t believe me which is a weird move. Might be better to not confidently assert what others did or mean unless you can actually be sure you’re right.

                  • velma@sh.itjust.works
                    24·
                    19 days ago

                    I wasn’t offended, I was offering that they didn’t mean that they literally can’t understand. It’s on you that you got offended by me linking to discussion about the word “literally” having different meanings.

    • Axolotl@feddit.it
      3·
      18 days ago

      Same thing as saying “i can’t understand why people don’t like spicy, it’s just so good! Why?”