Give me your LotR questions

[vegetariantaxidermy]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

How is it ironic?

[Iwannaplato]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

It was common in my much earlier generation, though without irony, mostly going by the feel of how the word had been used and not the then current meaning. If you guys are using it intentionally that way, that's great. Then it's is an intentional trope.

[Flannel Jesus]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

How is it ironic?

It's the opposite of its literal meaning, literally.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

How is it ironic?

It's the opposite of its literal meaning, literally.

Do you know what ironic means? Stop trying to justify illiteracy.

It's ironic that the only ZZ top member without a beard has the surname 'Beard'.

[Astro Cat]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

How is it ironic?

That’s the definition of irony: the expression of one’s meaning by using a word opposite its literal meaning for emphatic or humorous effect

[promethean75]

it's because the ironic use of the word 'literally' is not intentional in the speaker, while the ZZ Top reference is (most likely). dude prolly isn't growing a beard on purpose to effect that irony.

so to taxi, the ironic use of the word 'literally' is arbitrary at best and indicative of illiteracy in the speaker who uses it that way, at worst.

that's actually right tho. nobody says 'dude I literally, etc.' with some intent to be ironic. it's just some superfluous idiom that developed as a way to assist or enhance the exclamatory value and force of an utterance. and really only if whatever they did 'literally' was something rare and unusual, would the use of the word 'literally' be appropriate... as in 'no dude, for real, i literally jumped out the window and landed in the car seat (a convertible with the top down).

Other than that, you wouldn't say 'i 'literally' got up and got a Pepsi' because I wouldn't doubt that you did. That's nothing unusual. You don't need to signify that you REALLY got up and got a Pepsi.

[Flannel Jesus]

Stop trying to justify illiteracy astro cat

[promethean75]

but bro, illiteracy doesn't necessarily detract from meaningful speech. look at some of the crudest slang and how mangled its grammar and syntax is... and yet it serves to convey rich, meaningful communication between speakers.

only when we take a representational approach to language, rather than a 'meaning as use' approach, do these technicalities against improper grammar and syntax even become a problem.... with the exception of specialized technical languages obviously.

[Iwannaplato]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

I think you need to give these guys an example. It seems, though it's no easy to tell, that some think that really you just use it incorrectly and then are calling it ironic. That's more my generation.

I find it funny that people can get so angry about semantic change. I mean, I sympathize. I hate some changes, especially business type speak that seeps out. But I don't hate changes because they are changes. I have aesthetic issues with specific changes.

[Iwannaplato]

Stop trying to justify illiteracy astro cat

'Stop' orginally meant to block an aperture. You're not telling her to shut up, are you?

[Iwannaplato]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

How is it ironic?

That’s the definition of irony: the expression of one’s meaning by using a word opposite its literal meaning for emphatic or humorous effect

And there are novels and essays filled to the brim with irony.

[Astro Cat]

I am reminded of the Futurama episode with the musical and the Robot Devil, where they demonstrate in song what irony is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juswcAfJSDQ

It's at about 1:25

The Robot Devil asking for Leela's "hand," and she assumes he means her physical hands, but he means in marriage. That is irony.

[Iwannaplato]

I am reminded of the Futurama episode with the musical and the Robot Devil, where they demonstrate in song what irony is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juswcAfJSDQ

It's at about 1:25

The Robot Devil asking for Leela's "hand," and she assumes he means her physical hands, but he means in marriage. That is irony.

It's a lovely example of a standard type of semantic change, number 2....

3.1. Classification of Types of Change
In the first half of the 20th century, much work was done on classifying types of semantic change, most of them lexical/contentful and considered in isolation (e.g., Ullmann, 1962). These are still the mainstay of textbooks on language change (e.g., Campbell, 2004; Hock & Joseph, 2009) and are assumed in most recent work. Most important are (with up-dates in definitions):
1.
Metaphorization: conceptualizing one thing in terms of another, as in terms of similarity, for example, the use of Latin ad ‘to’ + mit ‘send’ for locution (admit), or of tissue ‘woven cloth’ for ‘aggregation of cells in animals or plants.’
2.
Metonymization: association, usually in terms of contiguity, for instance, board ‘table’ > ‘people sitting around a table, governing body.’ Many traditional examples of metonymic shift involve part for whole (often called “synecdoche”), as in keel for ship.4
3.
Pejoration: association of a term with negative meaning, such as, Old English stincan, ‘smell (sweet or bad)’ > stink, cnafa ‘boy’ > knave, conceit ‘idea, opinion’ > ‘overestimation of one’s qualities.’
4.
Amelioration: association of a term with positive meaning, such as Middle English nice, ‘foolish, innocent’ > ‘pleasant,’ and examples of preemption of meaning as a symbol of pride (e.g. queer).
5.
Narrowing: restriction of meaning, as in Old English deor ‘animal’ > deer (a specific kind of animal).
6.
Generalization: extension of meaning, as in Latin armare ‘cover one’s shoulders’ > arm.

Anyone (LOL, yeah, right) really interested in this topic can read the whole article here.....
https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/view/1 ... 20wireless).

Sadly, little dutch boys won't be able to protect their town from the flood.

[Flannel Jesus]

Stop trying to justify illiteracy astro cat

'Stop' orginally meant to block an aperture. You're not telling her to shut up, are you?

You'll have to read a couple posts up to see the context of what I was saying. Despite appearances, I'm not literally telling her to stop anything

[Astro Cat]

The whole “literally ironically being used to mean figuratively” thing is definitely from my generation. I use it that way all the time.

I think you need to give these guys an example. It seems, though it's no easy to tell, that some think that really you just use it incorrectly and then are calling it ironic. That's more my generation.

I find it funny that people can get so angry about semantic change. I mean, I sympathize. I hate some changes, especially business type speak that seeps out. But I don't hate changes because they are changes. I have aesthetic issues with specific changes.

When I say something like I will literally die if I don’t get a drink of water soon, the intention is knowingly ironic. “Literally” with this use is very common in millennials and we’re well aware of it (judging from the amount of memes poking fun at it). I’m sure there are some that don’t know it’s ironic, maybe