this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
288 points (100.0% liked)

196

16476 readers
2454 users here now

Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.

Rule: You must post before you leave.

^other^ ^rules^

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] kcsmnt0@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

I don't agree that it decreased the total expressiveness of English, no. The modern colloquial use of "literally" is not identical to "figuratively", or to "very", or any other word I can think of - it's an intensifier with a unique connotation that doesn't have any good alternative. At worst, we have lost some expressiveness and gained some expressiveness, and there is no objective metric to decide whether that's a "net positive" or a "net negative"; it's just a change.