General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGrammar Note: Bigly is an adverb.
It should only be improperly used to modify a verb.
For example, you can say, "Donald Trump always lies bigly."
You shouldn't say, "Donald Trump is a bigly asshole."
If you're going to use an invalid word, do use it as the correct part of speech.
Thanks,
The Grammar Nazi...
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Since Trump plans to abolish English and replace it with TwitterSpeak.
madinmaryland
(64,931 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)madinmaryland
(64,931 posts)it to me sounds like a very juvenile word. Why not just use the "huge"?
And don't get me started on the word "irregardless".
My Mom was an English major in college and spent twenty years reviewing college student's papers for grammar. I get where you are coming from!
tblue37
(65,225 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)"Big League"
Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)He just doesn't enunciate clearly. But if you watch and listen, he is saying "big league," but "swallowing" the hard g sound in league.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)It's note a word in the dictionary - yet. It's juvenile jargon.
Different Drummer
(7,603 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Who needs nuance?
3catwoman3
(23,947 posts)...of many people's thought depth.
Twitter is definitely contributing to the dumbing down of the US.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)we are lib'rul elitists?
If you read the Dumb One's twitter replies, "Yes, it does!"
rug
(82,333 posts)MineralMan
(146,254 posts)It's a thing with me, you see.
rug
(82,333 posts)It's a thing with you, I see.
The remedy for trump is not dusty chuckling.
MineralMan
(146,254 posts)Sometimes, dry, dusty humor is the only response available. Other remedies are not so simple. Sardonic laughter is useful, at times.
rug
(82,333 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,167 posts).
If DU is just for "pressing" problems, it's going to be a very boring place.
.
rug
(82,333 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,167 posts).
Like TV shows, there's always another channel (post) to switch over and view.
.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)analysis of the word bigly the past few weeks has been unpresidented.
bigtree
(85,975 posts)...language rules are for English majors and editors. The majority of readers couldn't care less.
tblue37
(65,225 posts)of the rules of spoken and written English, because if a language is not bound by mutually agreed upon rules, it will eventually become multiple mutually unintelligible languages.
Already we have some difficulty understanding the speech and writing of people using different dialects of English, though at the moment most of those difficulties are caused by variations in vocabulary (and using "bigly" would be a vocabulary variation if it became standard over time) or by regional accents that make it hard for some English speakers to understand the words other English speakers are saying.
Languages do evolve, and the rules that govern them also evolve. Grammar evolves slowly, written conventions (like punctuation and capitalization) evolve more rapidly (but still not all that quickly--i.e., over decades rather than centuries). With broadcast media's and the internet's rapid and wide dissemination of coinages and variations, vocabulary and other aspects of wording can change quickly--especially the phrasing of poorly understood old idioms.
For example, the phrase "toe the line" is often misunderstood and rendered as "tow the line," and the snarky, slangy comment "You've got another think coming" is often misunderstood and rendered as "You've got another thing coming." If you google the se variations, the historically incorrect ones will show up many more times than the correct ones, but since they are idioms, not "rules," they are governed by convention, so eventually the newer versions will replace the original ones, especially as those who are aware of the original versions die out.
Before the internet, such a change might take many decades, or as much as a century, especially since teachers and editors would enforce the original (standard--i.e., "correct" version.
But with the internet and the general acceptance of poorly written work that is still given high grades in our schools, the mere pervasiveness of the new version online will cause it to become the standard in the blink of an eye--relatively speaking--over a few years, or at most one or two decades rather than many decades.
bigtree
(85,975 posts)...grammar is a pet peeve, not actually essential to understanding each other.
niyad
(113,055 posts)so, whatever you feel about it, grammar, language rules, etc., ARE important.
otherwise, one ends up sounding like the orange foolius, or his twin, the alaska grifter.
bigtree
(85,975 posts)...perhaps you need to broaden your relationships.
Most people don't think or reason with perfect prose. The notion you just expressed is absurd. Many of my older relatives and some friends have not been afforded the benefit of lessons in grammar, yet they function on a high level of awareness and intellect.
...but, you go ahead and ridicule them. It can't be progressive to dismiss the intelligence of folks, just because they don't adhere to your rules of grammar, but such high-minded nonsense isn't a stranger to DU.
niyad
(113,055 posts)bigtree
(85,975 posts)...I'm not the one insulting people who don't use 'proper' grammar. I'm defending the vast majority of people in this world who have every bit as much intelligence as those who obsess over grammar.
As I intimated above, it's your loss for assuming you're infinitely more intelligent than folks who lack your oh-so-superior diction. The 'self-righteousness' is all yours, for assuming intellect can only reside in those who obsess over accepted speech.
niyad
(113,055 posts)I will point out that I never once proclaimed any grammatical superiority--that was your projection. I simply pointed out what grammar and language do. anything else was yours.
bigtree
(85,975 posts)...but I'll just take comfort in knowing that this wonderfully, grammatically-incorrect world will provide more of a rebuke (and annoyance) to you than I ever can or will.
Sad that your aspiration on this progressive board is to 'touch a nerve.' Get a life.
Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)aidbo
(2,328 posts)For example in the sentence, "the word bigly is simply absurd" simply is an adverb modifying the adjective absurd
And in the sentence "Donald Trump supporters are almost always racist" the adverb almost is modifying the adverb always which is in turn modifying the adjective racist.
Racist can also be a noun, so one has to look at it in context.
MineralMan
(146,254 posts)That is bigly important to recognize.
niyad
(113,055 posts)or as any part of speech, in my hearing.
MineralMan
(146,254 posts)For those who don't get it, my post was an attempt at humor.
niyad
(113,055 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,321 posts)niyad
(113,055 posts)tblue37
(65,225 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,321 posts)Not "kick some bigly butt", but "kick some butt bigly".
Threats should always be spoken proper.