We can just add this to the list of hills on which I intend to die:

[conuly]

Cousins aren't incest unless they're actually siblings by birth or adoption or were raised more or less in a sibling fashion. Cousin marriage is very common worldwide and throughout history, and unless you do it over and over again for generations it's not really a problem for your genes.

I'm not saying we all should boink our cousins today, but I really wish people would stop talking about how gross and squicky and incest it is when that's a far from universal opinion. Honestly, not all opinions need to be gratuitously shared. (And really, you gotta wonder what is going on when somebody feels the need to talk all about this at the very drop of a hat, which happens more often than you might think. I genuinely have no idea how I keep encountering people who just want to talk so much about how gross cousins are. It's not like I'm actively looking for things to annoy me! Trying to avoid it, in fact.)

Sooooooo... what hills do you all plan to die on?

Edit: I somehow forgot how people are. The very very biggest hill on which I will always make a stand is the basic principle that adult native speakers do not make mistakes in their own native speech. (Barring serious language-related disabilities and momentary disfluencies.) This is the very foundation of the science of linguistics, because the alternative belief, that language somehow manages to exist outside the speakers, doesn't make any sense.

So you're welcome to say that your hill is some word usage you hate, but I will fight you on that. Especially if you hate it because you think it's just immutably and objectively wrong.

Comments

[gisho]

The reason I'm not worked up about 'really' would be that 'literally' could be used in its place, excepy't it can't be. If 'literally' becomes a generic hyperbolic intensifier, exactly which word am I meant to use to indicate 'I am using this term which is often hyperbolic or metaphorical in a non-hyperbolic, non-metaphorical way'? So, I am worked up about 'really', I just know that cause is lost. See also 'very'.

Hi, I'm nobody! I had, by middle school, figured out that the word 'literally' was usually noise, but it still takes me a second to remember whenever I hear it. Then again, I'm one of those literal-minded people who can't bring themself to answer 'Fine' to 'How are you?' because it feels like lying, even knowing it's noise.

[conuly]

f 'literally' becomes a generic hyperbolic intensifier

Why are you referring to this in the future when it already happened three hundred years ago, less than one generation after the word first gained its figurative meaning?

[gisho]

Because many people still use it to mean 'non-figurative', in a way that seems to have fallen entirely into disuse for 'really'. If 'literally' could only nean 'figuratively, metaphorically, or hyperbolically', I'd give up.

[conuly]

People certainly do mean "really" to mean "real, true". They also use "truly" both in that sense and as an intensifier, and they use "honestly" both in that sense and as an intensifier, and... really, any word which has one meaning as "true, real, factual" is extremely likely in English to also be used as an intensifier.

The two senses are inextricable from each other. If you have one, you must have both.

[gisho]

Interesting - I've never seen 'really' except as an intensifier, and 'honestly' as an intensifer only when attached to true statements. If you've seen 'honestly' and 'truly' on hyperbolic falsehoods, no wonder there's a difference of opinion.

That said ... the reason screwdrivers have a label reading "Not a prybar, chisel, or punch" is that so many people use them as a prybar, chisel, or punch. Doesn't mean it doesn't ruin the screwdrivers.

[conuly]

I believe you probably have seen both those usages. You just can’t recollect them at this moment. They’re not very niche. When I wake up, I’ll see if I can find some examples from mainstream publications and productions.