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kricketsExplain to me, oh ye goddesses of fandom!
Some of the dearest people to me use words that I just don't understand.
I feel like everyone's using the expression "whelmed" these days. But I just don't know how to take it. I mean, I am a complete nerd, and of course I looked it up in the thesaurus. It lists "overwhelm" as a synonym for "whelm." And it lists "underwhelm" as an antonym. This was my suspicion all along, based on my own personal knowledge of the English language, but I don't know how to tell when someone in fandom is using it for "overwhelm" or if they're using it ironically for "underwhelm." Sometimes by the context, I feel like it's one way. Sometimes I feel like it's the other way. And sometimes I just can't tell at all.
I mean maybe it always means "underwhelmed" in the same way that "the worst" seems to almost always mean "the best."
I am so confused! We live in a backward world, my friends. And we also clearly need to get a fandom-specific dictionary. Can someone do that for me? Thanks.
Some of the dearest people to me use words that I just don't understand.
I feel like everyone's using the expression "whelmed" these days. But I just don't know how to take it. I mean, I am a complete nerd, and of course I looked it up in the thesaurus. It lists "overwhelm" as a synonym for "whelm." And it lists "underwhelm" as an antonym. This was my suspicion all along, based on my own personal knowledge of the English language, but I don't know how to tell when someone in fandom is using it for "overwhelm" or if they're using it ironically for "underwhelm." Sometimes by the context, I feel like it's one way. Sometimes I feel like it's the other way. And sometimes I just can't tell at all.
I mean maybe it always means "underwhelmed" in the same way that "the worst" seems to almost always mean "the best."
I am so confused! We live in a backward world, my friends. And we also clearly need to get a fandom-specific dictionary. Can someone do that for me? Thanks.
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Date: 2012-03-17 07:08 pm (UTC)Where language goes to die. I like that. It's pretty accurate.
I have always just pronounced GIF as the letters "G-I-F." Only rarely do I say "Jay Peg" I usually say "J-P-G" I thing the only one I really say as a word is "Em Peg" (for mpg or m-peg"). I can't explain that one.
Also, the word "meme." I very rarely say "meem" even though I am pretty sure that's how it's supposed to be pronounced. I mostly say "me-me" either in my head or out loud. I TRY to remember to say "meem" but that's a lot of effort!
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Date: 2012-03-17 08:57 pm (UTC)