I’ll add the book to my list.

I am not suggesting by the way that words should never change in meaning. Rather, I don’t think that the default mode shouldn’t be “ah well whatever, let’s just add a new colloquial definition”. The dictionary can chase language, but maybe it shouldn’t go at exactly the same pace that people say things on tik tok.

I came across a word I had never seen before this week in a book I’m reading (“schismogenesis” which is apparently a common word in anthropology, but not for engineering) and I immediately had a working definition. This is the reward for learning to me. I have another friend who did similar schooling and he is of the opinion that knowing “$5 words” is stupid and is reading the same book as part of our book club. I can’t imagine what it must be like for him to read a book and constantly feel like all you’re getting is the gist. The dumbing down of language eliminates nuance because the real depth doesn’t come at the 4th grade reading level it feels like descriptivism wants to sink to.

I don’t like flattening out language to meet the least common denominator.