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Are people trying to sound smart or classy trying to force irony when it doesnt fit because they look dumb. People use it to describe something that is funny or just coincidence not ironic. Anyone else notice this happen so often? Do you misuse word irony too?
That's why I avoid the word. I avoid all words I'm not sure about using correctly. I'm able to look like a dumbfuck without adding extra shit.
Oh btw here is another confusing word.
"I digress" Generally used to say "I have gone a little off topic and getting back on track".
Now what its taught as and meant to mean is
"I am going to go off subject and switch to another topic"
However this really makes no sense, since no one ever means to get off topic, so saying "I will digress" should not really make any sense in that context but its taught this is the correct context.
Now I will post the Definition of the word itself
di·gress
dīˈɡres/
verb
leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing.
It was ironic that her song "Ironic" was filled with things which weren't ironic. Therefore, "Ironic" is a great example of irony.
Yep, she did the world a disservice with that song. People don't need help being stupid.
If the OP's pretense to know complex word meanings was just a veiled attempt to cover her own ignorance, that would be ...
No, I never seen anyone misuse the word "Literally" a lot or just where it was not needed. I did on one occasion have to explain the irony in a situation to someone. It was really irritating. Irony means generally your action would have one result but for whatever reason it had the Oppisate reaction. Which the action itself should have avoided.
Like I seen stuff like "I literally died yesterday from eating too many corn chips". No you idiot if you LITERALLY died you would not be here to tell me you died from eating corn chips. My god!
The truly annoying thing, for an utter pedant like me, is that the definition of literally has been expanded to mean it's okay to use it in the context you mention above. So it can now mean exactly the opposite of its original definition.
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/
Oh yes, lets just cater to the idiots who dont know how to use English properly. Maybe if I get enough idiots to point at a dog and say "its a banana" They will change that to. Not that a dog has any real relation to a banana but of course since its common use we deserve a rule change.
That is what the urban dictionary is meant for! Bunch of idiots. I mean if it was a similar word that makes sense. Like using retarded to mean stupid(Close meaning) but using the antonym because you're too stupid to know the real word?
Honestly if that's all they are going to do why even go to English class? Obviously all too stupid to pay attention are we not? Why not just make words mean whatever, not like that matters anymore. What is this world coming to?
Words do flip through 180 degrees sometimes. Take 'awful' which now means practically the opposite of its original meaning, which was close to (the dreadful) awesome.
Yes but the words dont mean that because the people using them were too stupid to know what it meant. For example "Bad" can mean something like "He smells bad". However if for example girls like a "Bad boy" they might say "Thats bad or hes bad" in the sense which they have given it a positive connotation. Now words have a positive or negitive connotation based on the context in which it was used is nothing new to english or language in general for that matter. However if people are using a word different becuase of "Association" that is not the same as saying they are using it out of ignorance.
Like for example there is some words in languages you only would understand if you speak that language. The reason is while the literal interpretation means one thing, it means something else to them since its a word of association not a literal interpretation. For example a word can literally mean "Dog" but in that language it means any type of furry mammal in the animal kingdom. Why does it mean that? Since a dog is a furry mammal.
That is a word of association not one of ignorance. Which again goes back to my example of (Retarded vs stupid). Intelligence is measured on a IQ chart, anything under 70 is mentally retarded, so we could assume above that say 71 is just very stupid. So if 71 is stupid you could say retarded means you are VERY STUPID.
Now mentally retarded people are not actually what we consider today as "Stupid". The difference between a stupid and a retarded person is all the right parts are there and we have no extra or none missing. People who are retarded either have too little or too many parts and so they can never be a fully functioning human.
You also might like to know that stupid and many other terms we use to identify people with a low IQ barely above 70 all once were used to mean mentally retarded but after people using them in a negative manner the meaning was changed. Since retardation is on a spectrum though you could understand where this type of thing might happen.
Humble is another word people I know always use in The wrong context, I swear half the people I know think it means honered