Posted on 07/09/2015 11:40:57 AM PDT by pabianice
Only if one is not an intolerant xenophobe or an insouciant ethnocentric and certainly not an adoring Anglophile.
Words change meanings over time, and this one is no different. Imagine in 100 years what the word ‘marriage’ will entail....................
No, people really believe it makes literal sense.
My mother is one. She’s lost her mind on this. She was always so good at grammar and spent a major portion of her teaching with English. But no longer can I get her to understand why it is wrong.
And I’ve never heard anyone say it sarcastically.
Please be careful with generalities. The French Army did NOT practice what you are suggesting. In World War I the was a short Mutiny after the disaster of the Chemin des Dames. Whereas several hundred were charged with failure to perform their duty, or even desertion, very few (somewhere around fifty) were ultimately executed. They were revolting not only against the senseless “over the top” orders, but also against the maltreatment they received on a regular basis. This led to the appointment of General Petain who changed many of the customary conditions of the men and was able to pull the French Army back together. This was the same Petain who in WW II capitulated to the Nazis and “ruled” France under the Vichy government.
See too, "gay."
The word ‘unique’ is defined as being ‘one of a kind’. It is from Latin, ‘unicus’, meaning one, sole, single. If you are referencing colours, EACH of the ten custom vehicle colours are unique (per your definition). Your Batmobile is referencing a vehicle that is unique amongst a RARE group of cars, vehicles with custom paint jobs.
Our edjumacashun system has dumbed down and softened words so as not to even give the pretence of offence to anyone or anything. The system loathes ‘absolute’ words in all things. Squishy liberals, as most edjumacators are, wish to avoid having to defend their POVs, so they attempt to change ‘absolutes’ to give them room to squirm.
Next time I meet a partially pregnant woman, I’ll pass on your example!;-)
If you're speaking English 2,000 years later it means to severely damage or destroy something. Just as if you were speaking to Socrates you would refer to the play "Oedipus Rex" as a "goat song" (tragodia) but today you'd just call it a tragedy without evoking any image of suffering goats.
Language is far from immutable.
Every tenth person was killed when they conquered a town, (deci=ten) the locals then knew who was in charge.
I agree. Who applies to a person.
I don't think they worried overly much about morale
I bet you think he guy who properly used the word niggardly was rightfully fired because the stupid were (improperly) offended.
In France it meant a trunk which opened into two equal parts.
I based my statement from what I read in Mark Thompson’s “The White War, Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-19”
Nope.
But my pet linguistic peeve? It's the use of "red" to refer to Republicans and conservatives. When "red" is used in a political context, it should be in reference to Marxists and other hardcore leftists.
Sad to say, moreover, many "true blue" conservatives are often just as guilty in committing this linguistic sin as sin as are their adversaries in academia, the media and the Dhimmi establishment.
Does “illegal” mean “undocumented”?
Got/get.
It’s so common even though it bothers me, I commonly say it too.
“Get” means obtain.
It is not supposed to substitute for “have/had/has”.
Almost every news source misuses the word "gender". You can imagine how the word "decimate" must stymie them.
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