• Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • CubbyTustard@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          related but different there’s the “euphemism treadmill” where scientific terms get turned into slurs over time; lame, retarded, sped etc.

          • Firefly7@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              1 year ago

              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.

  • Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      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”

      • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        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