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This is a grammar nazi blog.
Recently I've come to the realization that there are a bunch of words in the English language that are so overused that they have become meaningless. These words used to mean something, but now they don't. Every time I hear or see these words I tune them out as of they weren't there. Here's the list I came up with:
Gourmet- Used to mean high class cuisine, or that there is something special about a food. Now this word is plastered on all the $1.99 TV dinners and pre-prepared shit everywhere. Advertising in the US has made this word completely worthless.
Interesting - Used to mean that something piques one's interest (GAHH can't think of another word), or is a topic one wishes to learn more about. Now it's a go to word for filling in space that means anything from a polite way of saying completely boring to actually interesting in the original sense of the word. Especially overused in college discussions when people have nothing of actual worth to say.
Literally - This was pointed out in another blog earlier, this word now means both literally and figuratively, which makes it basically meaningless since the two terms cover both imaginative and reality but are now rolled into one word.
Sale - Another victim of advertising, used to mean something is being sold below it's normal price. Now it means either a slight price adjustment or the actual price of an item, with a trumped up overpriced figure as the "normal price".
Totally - Used to mean 100%, now means anything from 0% to 100%. This word is a victim of casual usage and the increasing tendency for Americans to use hyperboles in daily speech.
"Ever" as in "best/worst ___ ever"- Ever used to mean "from the beginning of time until now". The word was rarely used. Now it's used everywhere for anything mildly cool or anything that has a smidgeon of truth, e.g. "if I had a nickel for every time someone called a Starcraft game the "best game ever" I'd be the richest man ever." Also, Day9's variant "best ___ in the whole wide world" makes me cringe a bit every time he says it (still a cool dude, just that habit  )
Overpowered - Starcraft 2 specific, used to mean something is so powerful that it breaks the balance of the game. Now it's just an overarching adjective for every unit, structure, doodad, and their mothers in the entire game,
If anyone else can think of some other words, feel free to chime in!
On October 03 2011 00:39 geometryb wrote:
"shit"
Originally means feces, now means everything. When something is "shit" it is worthless, when something is *the* shit it is amazing. When you say "oh shit" it means something bad has happened, is happening, or will happen soon.
But since "shit" is a swear word, it's not surprising that the word is highly flexible, just like "fuck".
 
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Geez, its like the worlds languages are evolving...like
Fag:Bundle of sticks->cig->homo
GEE BURN ALL THE NONBELIEVERS......
wait what?
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Words were, are and will ever be meaningless. Words are just a way to express meanings, reasoning, thoughts etc, and THEY are what counts.
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Logic. "Whatever is incomprehensible to me is illogical."
Terror. It means so many things now that it's become meaningless.
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Any absolute term is often used as hyperbole. It's not a problem, really.
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not to nitpick, but as for sale, as long as it's at a price below the listed price, then technically it IS a sale.
If the original price was overpriced before, that's another issue for the consumer, but it's still technically a sale. At that point, i feel like you've got an issue with it because they're being too exact to the definition of "sale"
Also, do you have any evidence that "ever" was rarely used? it's not like exaggeration is something that's unique to our time period.
And as for "interesting" i feel like it has to do a lot with context. It's kind of like the word "Nimrod." Nimrod is the name for a god of hunting, and when buggs bunny used it in a pejorative fashion to elmer fudd, most of the audience didn't catch the reference. they thought it was just a demeaning term to a bumbling idiot.
which is where a lot of the current definition of nimrod comes from.
languages change man, things will develop, and in 500 years the english that people speak will only have a passing resemblance to the language we currently speak
Edit:
On October 03 2011 00:44 KeksX wrote:
Words were, are and will ever be meaningless. Words are just a way to express meanings, reasoning, thoughts etc, and THEY are what counts.
So, words are meaningless, except for the fact that they convey meaning? in which case they have extreme meaning? I feel like you're just talking around in circles to try to make a deep point that's unnecessary.
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If you're actually interested on the topic of the philosophy of language read up on the Vienna circle, Wittgenstein and A J Ayer. It's a rather dense topic, but actually quite interesting once you get into it.
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My opinion of someone usually goes down as soon as they use the word "bro". I think the main reason I dislike it is because people who say it end up being idiots most of the time. It's also very overused and often used when saying something douchey "You mad bro?"
+ Show Spoiler +
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On October 03 2011 00:49 reneg wrote:not to nitpick, but as for sale, as long as it's at a price below the listed price, then technically it IS a sale. If the original price was overpriced before, that's another issue for the consumer, but it's still technically a sale. At that point, i feel like you've got an issue with it because they're being too exact to the definition of "sale" Also, do you have any evidence that "ever" was rarely used? it's not like exaggeration is something that's unique to our time period. And as for "interesting" i feel like it has to do a lot with context. It's kind of like the word "Nimrod." Nimrod is the name for a god of hunting, and when buggs bunny used it in a pejorative fashion to elmer fudd, most of the audience didn't catch the reference. they thought it was just a demeaning term to a bumbling idiot. which is where a lot of the current definition of nimrod comes from. languages change man, things will develop, and in 500 years the english that people speak will only have a passing resemblance to the language we currently speak Edit: Show nested quote +On October 03 2011 00:44 KeksX wrote:
Words were, are and will ever be meaningless. Words are just a way to express meanings, reasoning, thoughts etc, and THEY are what counts. So, words are meaningless, except for the fact that they convey meaning? in which case they have extreme meaning? I feel like you're just talking around in circles to try to make a deep point that's unnecessary.
Well there's a difference between words changing to mean something else and changing to have no meaning. Bug Bunny's usage of nimrod didn't make the word meaningless, it just changed the meaning into something else equally specific.
For the words I've listed the words used to mean something specific, but now cover such a wide spectrum that it no longer matters if the word is actually used. Take the word "sale". I always completely ignore if an item is on sale or not and just look at the price, because a lot of the time you can either find it even cheaper somewhere else (where it's not on sale), or buy a generic brand that isn't on sale for still cheaper. Therefore, the word has no value.
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The word "Great" seems to be overused a lot aswell, if you look at it, it was used to describe emperors of the highest rank. Nowadays everything that is sort of decent is "great".
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When I saw the "gayroller" I both laughed and thought of hellions "line em up!"
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On October 03 2011 01:57 Bibdy wrote:![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NllCz.png)
LOL, best post of the day.
But to the OP, I agree completely that English words are going to shit. 
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Any swear word is meaningless now.
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On October 03 2011 00:34 Newbistic wrote: Also, Day9's variant "best ___ in the whole wide world" makes me cringe a bit every time he says it (still a cool dude, just that habit )
Hahaha, Day9 says so many things that annoy me ("all that jazz"), but I still watch him cast and some of his dailies. Funday mondays are the worst and I really can't watch any of them unless the challenge is really interesting.
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Nothing in this post is about grammar! A true grammar Nazi would never confuse grammar for usage.
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EPT
