Spyke
lemmy.sdf.org

If you're up for something, or down for something, it means the same thing.

If you fill in a form or fill out a form, it means the same thing.

English is fucked.

107
Chriszzreply
lemmy.world

Think about filling in a form, though. Filling in a form—“to fill” is unambiguous. In/out isn’t even necessary when you think about it. “I’m going to fill a form” means the same thing too.

20

I feel like you're technically correct, but saying "fill a form" just sounds weird to a native English speaker.

10

Don't forget you might already be in the right place and don't need to go up or down. Then you can say you're "there for something"

11
ezuresreply
lemmy.wtf

Also try this inflammable table with flammable chairs.

11

I hate this one, it confuses Dutch people from time to time, so they think “inflammable” means “fire resistant”.

Extra scary when there's only an English-language warning on this

2
Straycereply
lemmy.sdf.org

There are words and phrases in English that get used sarcastically so often they lose their original meaning. There is a word for this and I swear I've seen a whole list somewhere but my google fu is weak today.

11
Firefly7reply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

No - semantic satiation is when you read or hear a word so much in a short timeframe that it stops feeling like a real word, and briefly feels like just a jumble of letters/sounds.

6

I hate semantic satiation. It happens all the time while programming for me. I'll have a variable name with some common word and, after typing it a few times my brain just stops recognizing it as a real word. This sometimes sends me into etymology dives to figure out why the word "jump" (or whatever) looks so strange.

4
lemmy.world

Now, I expect to be down voted.

I don't care, but I'm going to piss a lot of people off.

I say "I could care less".

That's sarcasm. It's what my nineties, heroin chic, grunge music adolescence gave me.

I could care less. It would just require that I make an effort. That's not caring less. That's caring about something.

It's like how the biggest homophobes always seem to be closeted. They care too much.

0

I remember we used to say “like I could care less” sarcastically back in the late 80s. I moved to a non-English speaking country in ‘89 so I have no idea when “I could care less” shifted from sarcasm to incorrect grammar, but I was surprised the first time I encountered people online mention it as a grammatical pet peeve.

6

I'm never quite sure what it says about me that I find David Mitchell the most relatable person on television.

2

Yeah, with this argument, "excellent" and "terrible" means the same thing.

9

I've always loved Mace Windu telling someone "your chances come in two sizes: slim and fat" in an old Star Wars Novell called Shatterpoint.

5

Fat chance is a sarcastic phrase, so they don't actually have the same literal meaning

2
swab148reply
lemm.ee

I tried eating a Fat Jim but then I got banned from Grindr

3

You reached the end