this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
574 points (95.7% liked)

Science Memes

11431 readers
1940 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
574
You have 8 seconds. (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
136 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Literally has been used as an intensifier for over 200 years. The Oxford English Dictionary includes the definition of "figuratively". Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, James Joyce, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain all used it that way in their writing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is truly bizarre that one of the definitions of the word is literally the opposite of the primary definition of the word, however.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The dictionary is descriptive, not proscriptive. Language evolves

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I knew I'd receive that reply, and I know it to be true. It's still very odd, as noted. I'm sure there are other examples where one definition contradicts another, but none immediately spring to mind.