That's a silly argument, from the Middle English gesælig, which around the 14th century meant "weak". It is not "egregious" in the original sense of "excellent".
Words mean what most people agree they mean, and most people are idiots. So now "broadband" means "high throughput", not "having no DC component, therefore frequency shiftable", because the Committee of Idiots couldn't grasp its original meaning. Likewise the idiots who use "literally" to mean "virtually" have future history on their side; already their "misuse" of the word is blessed by dictionaries as an alternate meaning, and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the primary definition.
Not a monolith (Score:2)
Re:Not a monolith (Score:2)
That's a silly argument, from the Middle English gesælig, which around the 14th century meant "weak". It is not "egregious" in the original sense of "excellent".
Words mean what most people agree they mean, and most people are idiots. So now "broadband" means "high throughput", not "having no DC component, therefore frequency shiftable", because the Committee of Idiots couldn't grasp its original meaning. Likewise the idiots who use "literally" to mean "virtually" have future history on their side; already their "misuse" of the word is blessed by dictionaries as an alternate meaning, and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the primary definition.
Re: (Score:2)