> [Paraphrased] Words mean different things to different people! Anyone can choose any definition they want!
No, words have quite definite meanings. Otherwise, they are not an aid to communication.
No, words have quite definite meanings. Otherwise, they are not an aid to communication.
Were that the case, “literally” would not literally mean both itself and its opposite.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/misuse-of-literally
Words change meaning frequently throughout history, depending on how they are (mis)used. Or they can change meaning depending on context or part of the country/world.
https://www.vox.com/2015/11/29/9806038/great-british-baking-...
Sometimes drastically.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TooAfraidToAsk/comments/kc41mu/why_...
> Otherwise, they are not an aid to communication.
I do agree with you that it makes it harder, but communication does depend on more than just the words.
Good example of words losing their meaning. “Enshittification” is barely an infant as a word and it has a very specific meaning, but people are already using to mean “something I dislike”.
It doesn't mean the opposite. People misuse it a lot in that way, but they are quite wrong.
You are advocating for prescriptivism, but descriptivism is a perfectly valid approach to language.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/descriptive-vs-presc...
We all use plenty of words by their “wrong” meaning, because they changed over time and before we were born.