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The descriptivist's dilemma (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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alt text: A two panel comic. In the first panel there are two buttons labeled "I don't believe in prescriptivism" and "'Literally' cannot mean 'figuratively'". A finger hovers between the buttons. In the second panel, the finger's owner is sweating and wiping his brow, unable to decide.

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I admit that if someone sends a text that reads “I’m literally suffocating” without any context

Exactly.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

but that just works further to my point that context matters.

Have some reading glasses 👓

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I never denied that context matters, my point is that few words are that ambiguous without context.

this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024

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