this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2024
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Barely on topic: The idea that "literally" has changed to mean "figuratively" is completely false and is the only instance I know of where people tried so hard to be descriptivists that they failed and did prescription.
The example "I literally died" is referenced the most, but "died" doesn't even mean "got murdered" here- it means shut down, in an emotional sense.
If someone said "I dropped my pencil in front of everyone, I literally died" someone could say "really though" and the reply would be like "okay yeah not literally, I just got a little flustered over it."
Literally died means yes, I actually had such strong embarrassment that it mentally incapacitated me, I didn't just blush.
Actual dictionary writers have misunderstood this and included "figuratively" as an alternate meaning even though nobody has ever used it that way except when they're talking about descriptivism. It's actually embarrassing.
Notice that they did not redefine the words seriously, actually, immediately, really, for real, unironically, or honestly. Even though those can all be used in the same situation, "oh my god I seriously died"... Linguists you do not have to edit the dictionary to retroactively prevent people from lying or being imprecise, ok?
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
But the 'shut down, in an emotional sense' is the figurative use of the word 'died', not the literal kind.
YES. The word "die" is being used figuratively to provide a completely alternate meaning, and the word "literal" is used to affirm that the alternate meaning literally happened. If the word "literally" HAS evolved a new definition, it's "fr fr" and absolutely not "figuratively".
The word "literal" gets people too wrapped up in the mechanics, and it makes them want to go all fucking Amelia Bedelia everywhere.
Die means to stop functioning, to become weak, to wither. A motor can die. That's what it means there. In that sentence, the word "literally" is used to affirm that there was an actual shutdown, that the person was really stunned, that they really had some kind of crisis, and that they aren't just looking back on it with growing embarrassment after the fact and embellishing.
There is some added confusion because most languages really don't have many words for feelings, so people have had to just borrow words to describe them. Emotional states aren't inherently figurative - "that literally hurt my feelings" doesn't refer to like, damage to nerve endings in the skin- "feeling" is just based off a simpler, older word for touch.
And again, it's exactly the same as the words really, actually, seriously, honestly, unironically, none of which are getting supposedly redefined. I can use the word honestly as part of a lie. I can use the word unironically ironically. I can use the word literally as part of a figurative sentence. The actual individual words don't need to change at all. You don't need to "fix" the definition of words people are saying so that you can imagine they are speaking more plainly than they are.
Nobody who says "I literally died" is including the word "literally" because they want to ensure the person that the death w as figurative, that they didn't have some brief cardiac arrest. Even if they say "BRUH I literally went 6 feet under the ground and fucking ROTTED" they are basically just joking. The word literally itself doesn't need to change here.
Why not change the word "rotted"?? Oh I guess "rotted" now means "continued living in good health" because otherwise they'd be lying.
And most of all, FUCK. Literally is often an important clarifying word. If people actually start using "left turn" to mean "right turn" you should stop them! That will cause actual problems. Not because it sounds funny to you. Sounding funny is the thing that bothers prescriptivists. If people believe the "literally" propaganda and teach it to enough kids, a very valuable word becomes absolutely unusable and goes to the fucking graveyard like "bi-weekly"