• samus12345@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m something of a grammar Nazi, but just like I support letting “whom” die, “less” and “fewer” might as well just be interchangeable. There’s no loss of language utility in doing so, unlike “literally”'s tragic demise.

      • samus12345@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I’m aware, but it was done so sparingly, as opposed to being used to mean its opposite far more than its original meaning nowadays.

        • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          That is how language works. It starts off small, then it catches on over time, and after a long time has passed, it either gets filtered out, or it becomes commonly used. The case for literally being used, for reasons other than its original one, started a couple hundred years ago. Today it is super commonly used that way, as it didn’t get abandoned. You are mad at the nature of the beast.