For me, it may be that the toilet paper roll needs to have the open end away from the wall. I don’t want to reach under the roll to take a piece! That’s ludicrous!

That or my recent addiction to correcting people when they use “less” when they should use “fewer”

  • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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    4 months ago

    That’s how language works.

    Many words shifted meaning over time, some gained connotation, some lost it, some turned to something completely different.

    Just look at the word “gay”, it shifted from “happy” to “haha homosexuals are outwardly happy, so we call them gay semi-ironically” to “homosexual”. The homophobic connotation was added, then the original meaning got lost.

    You can complain, sure, but just read an old text from the 17th century and try to find a sentence that means exactly the same today as it did back then.

    • DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I’m fine with language evolving; my issue is that there used to be a word that succinctly conveyed a particular idea, and now there is no way to concisely convey that idea in English.

      “Gay” changing its meaning isn’t the same thing, because there are still plenty of ways of saying “happy” in English.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      I never called things “gay” growing up, I found it disparaging and offensive.

      I came out as queer in my 20s. Now I ironically say “shit’s gay” and stuff like that all the time hahaha