Since it’s widely accepted that the word “literally” can be used to add emphasis, we need another word that can be used when you want to make it clear that you really mean “literally” in the original sense.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    8 days ago

    it’s widely accepted that the word “literally” can be used to add emphasis

    You found the root cause.

    The solution is vicious heckling of idiots who misuse it - treat them like a middle-school drop-out - until they fix their behavior. Do the same for people who pluralize mass nouns as well: trainings, supports (not used like struts), emails.

    • Krudler@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      I tried that with “irony”. People don’t give a fuck, they just want to randomly use words to seem smart.

        • Krudler@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          People who don’t feel very dumb and just use random words aren’t shamed by telling them they are dumb for using random words.

          They just come back at you with the old speech “did you know language evolves 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔”

          • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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            8 days ago

            Linguistic drift happens over generations, that’s just illiteracy, and if they’re too stupid to feel shame they definitely don’t know anything about that anyway

              • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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                8 days ago

                Lol just fyi you’re not me, if I were having a conversation with myself it wouldn’t be half as stupid as this