this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Quite a few. The most recent well-known one is people often now using 'literally' to mean 'figuratively,' but there are other examples-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A quantum leap is often used to emphasize a large step forward, however in physics it means the smallest possible change of state.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

And this isn't quite a contronym, but "silly" originally meant "blessed."

“Silly goes the other direction,” Curzan explains. “Silly goes all the way back to Old English, when silly meant happy or blessed.” This positive term quickly changed. Silly became a synonym for innocent or harmless, and then became an adjective for something or someone worthy of sympathy.

Something we feel sympathy for is something that’s weak. And something that’s weak is unsophisticated. Finally, silly went on to mean ignorant and lacking sense.

https://www.michiganpublic.org/arts-culture/2013-10-27/the-changing-meanings-of-nice-and-silly

And, as that same article said, "nice" used to mean what silly means today.

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

And thanks to internet culture blessed now can mean something similar to silly.

[–] magikmw@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm generally a nice person. Not very silly though.

[–] magikmw@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah I can relate.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

Also, the American Fascist Party is still officially called the Republican Party even though it wants to change the government form to theocratic fascism 🤷