this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yes, thousands of years of established language development is wrong

Yes, it is. Island has an 's' in it as a stylistic choice to Latinize a word that has no Latin root. Literally is now defined as "not literally" which is absurd. That's established language development.

If people keep using "it's" as possessive then it will become possessive, and nothing will be lost.

[–] Leg@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Language sticklers are an interesting phenomenon to me. Language has always evolved with its users. The only rule is that we understand each other when we use it, and that rule allows massive flexibility. Watching it evolve in real-time is more fun than trying to police someone for using an apostrophe.

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Language sticklers are an interesting phenomenon to me

It's weird if you think about it. They're basically saying "English was exactly correct at an arbitrary moment in time that I chose." Anything different before that (such as 'iland') is wrong, but any new changes are an abomination.

[–] Fal@yiffit.net 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That's totally not fair. Some things are more wrong than others. And the "everything is correct even" language people are just as insufferable as the "there is exactly one correct usage" people.

Using it's instead of its is not slang, or an evolving use or alternative spelling. It's simply wrong.

[–] mmagod@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

i'm glad this is being discussed. i felt like i was among very few in how i felt about that use of its vs it's.

just say "it is" and use it's as the possessive.. like every other word in the language and stop failing people on exams

[–] Fal@yiffit.net 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So should we use your's too? and hi's?

[–] mmagod@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] Fal@yiffit.net 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] mmagod@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

sure if we want to get granular, then yes "it" is a pronoun as well.. it's just not typically used when referring to a person

the irony behind my use of "it" just now though..

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 0 points 9 months ago

I don't disagree that it's wrong, but I had no difficulty understanding the sentence so I don't care. The correction is just a distraction.