Language is always changing. At one point ‘an apron’ was ‘a napron’ while words like ‘literally’ are no longer literally literal. What are some language battles that have been lost in living memory and what are some others you predict will soon occur?

Edit: Non-english examples very welcome!

  • ghost_laptop@lemmy.ml
    1·
    11 hours ago

    i’ve never learnt to use tildes in spanish lol i mean i know some rules for that but i just never cared, most people dont use them while texting unless the corrector adds it.

  • RavuAlHemio@lemmy.world
    3·
    15 hours ago

    From my perspective, literally being used for emphasis does not actually change its meaning, it’s simply hyperbole.

    If you complain that you’ve been “waiting for hours”, even though it’s been 45 minutes, that doesn’t change the meaning of “hours”, you’re just exaggerating.

    Hyperbole is a stylistic element; style is a completely different level of language than grammar/spelling/semantics (word meanings). As another example of style, ending a sentence with a preposition is grammatically correct but stylistically not recommended.

    • AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 hour ago

      The OED actually includes the definition of literally as being what used to be the opposite of its definition nowadays, so I think that it does count as an auto-antonym (a word that means both itself, and the opposite of itself)

  • Luke@lemmy.mlEnglish
    9·
    20 hours ago

    I suppose the word “boomer” has changed meaning very quickly. It rarely gets used anymore to refer to actual boomers (people born just after WW2) and instead now can refer either vaguely to anyone older than 30, or anyone with an antiquated/problematic notion of social norms.

  • LeftReddit2@lemmy.world
    12·
    21 hours ago

    Loose and lose might as well be the same word these days. Drives me up a damn wall.

    That and “POV” doesn’t mean what it used to mean anymore. Also drives me up a wall.