this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
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Welcome languages, where the definitions aren't static, and the meanings change over time.
This is brought to you by the word angnail. Yes angnail, not hangnail. Okay fine it's hangnail now.
Change is expected and important.
The word literal is an equally important job to do.
It's fine to make literal not mean literal, but then instead of needing a word that means not literal, we're gonna need a word that means literal.
Alright, guess maybe it becomes literally literal or not literally literal.
Come to think of it, maybe we should just say not literally literal for things that aren't actually literal and are just intending to be emphasized.
Linguistic drift happens over generations, this is just illiteracy
So you mean, if this use of 'literally' had been around for, say, several centuries, you'd consider it acceptable?
Lol still no, the article you linked makes it clear that in all that time the situation hasn't changed at all, the primary definition is the same and the secondary usage is the same and the criticism is the same
Your comment was purely about these changes taking generations to happen, this is something that has been in the work since the 18th century. It's a perfectly typical change, not a sudden one based in illiteracy.
No, this is something that has not changed at all since the 18th century, learn to read
You are so confidently incorrect and unable to recognize your error. I invite you to re-read the whole article. This is a use that first surfaced in the 18th century and has slowly become more common, with an adoption peak recently. That's how languages evolve.
In any case, definitely not about illiteracy, which, once again, is your original claim.
Gain some maturity.
The primary definition is unchanged for several centuries, the secondary definition has always been secondary and is more controversial than ever, if anything it seems pretty obvious that any linguistic drift occurring is in the opposite direction of your preference. I'm right and I'm winning, cope.
Nothing in what you said invalidates anything that I said. Nothing in what you said suggests illiteracy for the secondary use. I suggest you work on your reading comprehension and your argumentation consistency.
No. It is more common than ever, which is why it is also controversial. And for the record, I don't like the secondary meaning at all and I do not use the word this way. But, I recognize that it exists and I'm not sour and elitist about it as you are.
Lmao. You didn't pick up on the maturity part, did you?
Nothing anywhere in this thread or anywhere else indicates that misuse of the word literal was the result of anything other than illiteracy, only that this specific trend in illiteracy isn't new. Doing shit wrong for 2 centuries doesn't make it any less stupid.
There is no right or wrong with expanding a language. A language is never set in stone, it evolves as people use it. If a large amount of people use a word a certain way, no one has the authority to say that it is wrong. This sort of change is what makes a language alive. Only dead languages are set in stone.
If you disagree with this, then you should use old english, not this peasant modern variant we all use. Have a bit of consistency!
Linguistic drift towards being less comprehensible is objectively bad, fucking duh
That's a subjective observation. Most people have no problem understanding a word that has different meanings (so, almost every single word) based on context.
Anyway, this has been fun but I'm all out of time to waste on you! Good luck to you :)
Most people have no trouble walking, the invention of the wheelchair was still a step in the right direction because people exist for whom that is not true. A more comprehensible language is objectively better whether it makes a difference for you or not.
"Telling me I'm wrong is immature"
No, your insulting and (baseless) bragging are.
Have you perhaps considered crying about it?
Why would I? I'm not the emotional one here :)
Sure thing bud, totally believable