this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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Isn't meaning derived from the usage, though? If people start using a word to mean a different thing, the meaning changes, no? Communication depends on the interpretation of the listener, and the intention of the speaker. Communication works when the listener understands a meaning intended by the speaker. Otherwise, the message hasn't properly been communicated. Just look at words like "goat." It can mean an animal, yes. But when I ponder whether a quirked up white boy bussing it down sexual style is goated with the sauce, I am not wondering whether said boy has become a literal animal.
Words are inert. They're just symbols.
EXACTLY this is what I'm thinking
I can understand using formal language in formal places but lemmy generally isn't super formal
I think with the rise of the internet informal writing has gotten significantly more common, which is leading to changes in the written language
For a long time stuff like slang has generally been limited to speech, transcriptions of speech and quotations, but with messaging and internet, it's common to write in the same register as you speak