ironically, i literally died

Started by The Void June 11th, 2014 3:48 AM
  • 492 views
  • 16 replies

The Void

hiiiii

Male
MOTHA RUSSIA
Seen May 29th, 2019
Posted August 9th, 2015
1,416 posts
13 Years
"Literally" and "ironic" are two of the most abused and misused words in the English language, and frankly, it gets annoying. When you see or hear them being used in the wrong way, how do you react? Do you correct the person in error? If so, how? Have you yourself fallen victim to this? What about other misused/overused words?

Tsutarja

Age 28
he / him
Florida
Seen 4 Hours Ago
Posted 13 Hours Ago
27,327 posts
13.2 Years
I fall victim to this all the time, especially if it involves words I just learned the meaning of. However, when I see people using a word in the incorrect meaning and/or context, I'll politely correct them and tell them what the words mean. As for misused words, I hear people in real life all the time confusing "antisocial" with "asocial".

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
I actually don't see ironically misused a lot. I see people complaining a lot about it being misused and criticizing valid uses of the word, but not really misusing it.

The one that really gets me that I need to learn to let go is "begs the question". It doesn't mean "the question begs to be asked" like it's used, it means "assuming an arguable premise is true".


Theme * Pair * VM * PM

Not all men...

Are all men stupid?

That's right.

Universe

all-consuming

Seen November 16th, 2016
Posted November 16th, 2016
2,239 posts
9.6 Years
"That's ironic."

No. No it isn't. And yes, it frustrates me quite a good deal. Having been a kid who originally used 'ironic' incorrectly due to confusion from peers, I can vouch that it's easy to forget the original meaning of that word. There is a huge difference between coincidence and irony, but people manage to mess it up all the time anyway.

Being a person who's been using complex words since childhood, I'm really big on getting the meaning right. If you don't actually know what the word means, please don't use it.

" Catchphrase! "

Poki

Banned

България
Seen February 20th, 2020
Posted September 21st, 2015
2,423 posts
9.8 Years
thats so ironic liek literally omg i cant even

It's annoying when people use words they do not know the meaning of; however, I'm not going to correct anybody if I want them to make a fool out of themselves.

Sometimes you just gotta learn your lesson the hard way for being a dumbass.

Dustmop

Fight for what makes you happy

Age 30
Seen November 27th, 2022
Posted September 7th, 2016
932 posts
9.2 Years
I misuse "ironic/ironically" on purpose for poops and giggles. A lot of my friends also purposefully misuse certain words. Whatever, I know they know what it means. Doesn't bother me.

What does bother me is the excessive misuse of "epic." But Maddox has already said more than enough about that. =p

Shining Raichu

Expect me like you expect Jesus.

Age 32
Male
Australia
Seen October 17th, 2020
Posted December 21st, 2017
8,958 posts
12.3 Years
"socially awkward" is the most overused, misused and aggravating phrase circling the Internet. Everybody claims it like it's some online badge of honour to have no real life social skills, when really most of them are probably just a little bit shy and unwilling to do anything about it.
Moderator of General Chat
Seen September 18th, 2020
Posted February 18th, 2018
7,741 posts
16.6 Years
As for misused words, I hear people in real life all the time confusing "antisocial" with "asocial".
That happens a lot on this site, actually. Eh...



The one that really gets me that I need to learn to let go is "begs the question". It doesn't mean "the question begs to be asked" like it's used, it means "assuming an arguable premise is true".
How did that phrase come to mean such a thing?

Trev

i gave you everything...

Age 26
Male
Seen December 31st, 2021
Posted March 27th, 2019
1,505 posts
11 Years
I don't know about either of those words (I personally haven't heard them misused) but I know tons of students at my school use "legit" constant. Also, almost all the preppy girls use "like" as a filler, and it bugs the crap out of me.

Xilfer

Just won't die.

Male
Your mind
Seen May 5th, 2015
Posted May 5th, 2015
1,880 posts
12.7 Years
I wouldn't start a rant over it or get really pissed off, but yeah it does annoy me when people misuse words. Not just 'ironic' and 'literally', but all kinds of words. It's my principle to use only use words I know the meaning of, and I really wish other people would figure out the meaning of certain words before using them so casually all the time. It's true that 'ironic' and 'literally' can be some confusing words; I admit I was confused about their meanings before I got around to actually looking it up in the dictionary. However, because I was unsure of the meaning, I never bothered to try and use them in the first place. It should be the same for others imo. Only use words you're 100% positive you know the meaning of, to avoid embarrassing yourself.
Female
Seen September 14th, 2017
Posted June 28th, 2017
284 posts
9.7 Years
I've never really heard ironic being used wrong but sometimes I'll use literally wrong. I don't correct other people's grammar cause we all make mistakes and, pshh I'm an English honours student but if you read through the texts I send my best friend you'd think a five year old sent them. The way people use words doesn't matter to me unless I can't clearly understand what they say/mean so when I see people use literally wrong I just let it go.

Dustmop

Fight for what makes you happy

Age 30
Seen November 27th, 2022
Posted September 7th, 2016
932 posts
9.2 Years
As for misused words, I hear people in real life all the time confusing "antisocial" with "asocial".
I honestly don't get all the fuss over this one. They mean the same thing.

an·ti·so·cial adjective
: violent or harmful to people
: not friendly to other people
aso·cial adjective
Definition of ASOCIAL

: not social: as
a : rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction
b : antisocial
Sure, antisocial's first meaning is "contrary to the laws and customs of society; devoid of or antagonistic to sociable instincts or practices." "harmful to others." Basically misanthropic.

But the second meaning is the same as asocial. "not sociable; not wanting the company of others."

That's not misusing it. It has other meanings. There may have been better words to use there, but it wasn't the wrong word, either.
That's like saying someone misused the word "decimate" when used as a synonym for something like "obliterate." Just because it also means to destroy 1/10 of something (hence the name; decimal, decimate) doesn't mean it has no other meanings or usage.

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
How did that phrase come to mean such a thing?
Aristotle created it actually - it used to refer to a question-and-answer style of debate where you'd break the rules of debate by asking the thesis in question form instead of asking other questions to disprove the thesis. It then went through a lot of changes through philosophical transformation and translation which I don't entirely understand, haha.


Theme * Pair * VM * PM

Not all men...

Are all men stupid?

That's right.

Megan

She/Her, It/Its
Seen 8 Hours Ago
Posted 15 Hours Ago
17,811 posts
10.3 Years
Of course "ironic" means "being full of iron", what else should it mean?

The only thing that's really confusing me sometimes (independent of which language I use) is the difference between cynic and sarcastic... The first is if you tell the truth and the second if you're doing the opposite intentionally.
Moderator of Previous Generations, Forum Games and VPP
You got a thing!

Esper

California
Seen June 30th, 2018
Posted June 30th, 2018
The word that gets to me most is "actually." It's comes off as a way of saying "you're wrong and I'm going to show you where you're wrong." It's not something I see misused in a grammatical sense, but to me is seems like it's used too often without people taking the time to think through what they're implying by using it.

On the question at hand, a descriptivist would say that there really isn't a wrong way to use words like "literally" or "ironic" as long as you're understood. (So then, if I said "me hungry" that might seem 'wrong' but you know what I'm saying.) Same with "begs the question" and so on. Not saying that I'm a descriptivist (or a prescriptivist either) but I feel like there are worse "abuses" of the English language out there.
Seen September 18th, 2020
Posted February 18th, 2018
7,741 posts
16.6 Years
I honestly don't get all the fuss over this one. They mean the same thing.

Sure, antisocial's first meaning is "contrary to the laws and customs of society; devoid of or antagonistic to sociable instincts or practices." "harmful to others." Basically misanthropic.

But the second meaning is the same as asocial. "not sociable; not wanting the company of others."

That's not misusing it. It has other meanings. There may have been better words to use there, but it wasn't the wrong word, either.
The problem with this is if two words generally meaning different things can also mean the same thing, that can only lead to confusion sooner or later, and language is meant to be understood. We'd only do ourselves a disservice at length (ie. toward the morphology of English) to be careless about distinctions that do matter at the very least for conciseness and clarity, if not outright avoidance of total misunderstanding. I suspect the second definitions are there precisely because of past misplacement of each term.



Aristotle created it actually - it used to refer to a question-and-answer style of debate where you'd break the rules of debate by asking the thesis in question form instead of asking other questions to disprove the thesis. It then went through a lot of changes through philosophical transformation and translation which I don't entirely understand, haha.
That's more convoluted than I expected...