
In "Words on the Move," linguist John McWhorter reveals why your grandmother's complaints about "literally" aren't valid. Language evolution isn't decay - it's natural adaptation. This Columbia professor's witty exploration makes you question: is your resistance to linguistic change actually logical?
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Words aren't static objects frozen in dictionaries-they're living entities in constant motion. While we often imagine language as something fixed and permanent, it's actually more like a river-always flowing, shifting course, and transforming the landscape it passes through. This evolutionary process isn't random or chaotic but follows natural patterns that have shaped human communication for millennia. What many consider "errors" or "sloppiness" in modern speech are actually the same forces that transformed Latin into French or Old English into what we speak today. Language change isn't decay-it's life itself, the natural breathing of a living system adapting to human needs. When someone complains about "literally" being used figuratively or "like" appearing in new contexts, they're witnessing the same evolutionary mechanisms that have been reshaping words since humans first began speaking.