Evolution of language
- Thread starter JohnW2
- Start date
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Interestingly, whilst all, or nearly all, dictionaries have the meaning of "nearly"/"almost", only some of them mention anything to do with "virtual"!
Then, of course, there is a whole host of words like "horribly", "terribly", "awfully" etc. etc. which EFLI presumably feels that we use incorrectly.
Kind Regards, John
Ha ha. Funny you should say that.
Some dictionaries have defined terribly as simply meaning 'very' but surely it only (sort of) means that in bad ways - terribly burnt, horribly disfigured.
However some (radio presenters again) use them as I would consider wrongly - terribly good but not of course horribly good.
Awfully good or bad could be correct both ways because of its original and present meaning.
I wonder who started using awful to mean bad.
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As you say, probably not (often!) "horribly good", but one sometimes hears things like "horribly precise" or "horribly efficient" etc. - but I think that then usually implies 'OTT', rather than just 'very'.
Kind Regards, John
Worse than 'television'?
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