The word "legit" at beginning of sentences

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30 Jun 2017, 12:08 pm

Ultimately communication needs to convey the intended meaning. I reject linguistic prescriptivism.

It's fine either way. I find such incongruity amusing.

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leejosepho
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30 Jun 2017, 12:22 pm

starkid wrote:

naturalplastic wrote:

A) why single me out?

You were the first person to say that you weren't familiar with it and offer a meaning that you came up with.

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity and then I offered my guess.

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30 Jun 2017, 12:51 pm

leejosepho wrote:

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity

Not necessarily. A person can be familiar with something and still guess what it means because familiarity doesn't imply understanding.

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30 Jun 2017, 1:02 pm

jrjones9933 wrote:

Let's think of ways it could be used wrongly, following the current rules of usage.

Legit a bastard. The definition of bastard precludes legitimacy.

I think that you mean "a legit bastard". Not "legit a bastard".

The way MC Hammer, and the examples in the OP, use it the word "legit" is an adjective. Not a verb.
"Legit a bastard" doesn't function as a grammatical sentence. Except that it could if you extended the slang ( ie extended it to mean legitimize as well as to mean legitimate).But the examples shown don't do that.

A "legit bastard" would indeed be a contradiction in terms. Except it wouldn't be. Lol!
It could be quite logical.

The guy you're talking about could well be a "bastard" in the modern figurative sense of meaning an assbleep, or a mean abusive person. And if you're so certain that anyone who met him would agree that he is a bastard, and if you were into this hipster slang in question, then it would make perfect sentence for you to say "he is a legit bastard". (ie " No doubt about it, he is a bastard!").

Last edited by naturalplastic on 30 Jun 2017, 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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30 Jun 2017, 1:07 pm

starkid wrote:

leejosepho wrote:

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity

Not necessarily. A person can be familiar with something and still guess what it means because familiarity doesn't imply understanding.

Lee joseph and I both said the same thing. Both said we never heard the expression before (that's how most English speaking folks on planet earth would interpret both of our posts). But we both took a stab at guessing what it meant from the examples offered. And both came up with pretty much the same guess.

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30 Jun 2017, 1:17 pm

naturalplastic wrote:

starkid wrote:

leejosepho wrote:

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity

Not necessarily. A person can be familiar with something and still guess what it means because familiarity doesn't imply understanding.

Lee joseph and I both said the same thing. Both said we never heard the expression before (that's how most English speaking folks on planet earth would interpret both of our posts).

You may have meant the same thing, but you did not say the same thing. The comments speak for themselves; I've already explained this. "I guess" doesn't mean "I'm unfamiliar with the phrase." That should be obvious from the OP (who is familiar with the usage yet does not know what it means)! What most English speakers would think is irrelevant.

Anyways, I'm not obliged to comment on everyone else's comments even if they do say the same things.

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30 Jun 2017, 1:26 pm

starkid wrote:

naturalplastic wrote:

starkid wrote:

leejosepho wrote:

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity

Not necessarily. A person can be familiar with something and still guess what it means because familiarity doesn't imply understanding.

Lee joseph and I both said the same thing. Both said we never heard the expression before (that's how most English speaking folks on planet earth would interpret both of our posts).

Actually "what most English speaking people in the world would think" is central because English is the language we all are speaking in, and if you cant understand English (even English laid between the lines) its your problem not that of we who are speaking.

And actually you are obliged to be consistent (if for no other reason than just to be understood).

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30 Jun 2017, 1:40 pm

naturalplastic wrote:

I am a professional editor. My understanding of English is superior to that of most people; that's why I knew better than to assume that someone who guessed the meaning of a word was unfamiliar with the word's itself. Maybe most English speakers would assume; but that doesn't mean that assuming is proper.

What you are calling reading between the lines is actually an assumption, and assumptions are generally an improper way to interpret others posts despite the fact that you happened to assume correctly this time. You seemed to make an explicit statement of unfamiliarity with the term and leejones didn't. That's the difference between your comments.

Quote:

And actually you are obliged to be consistent (if for no other reason than just to be understood).

I have no idea what you are talking about and neither do you, apparently. This conversation is over.

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30 Jun 2017, 1:52 pm

starkid wrote:

naturalplastic wrote:

Quote:

And actually you are obliged to be consistent (if for no other reason than just to be understood).

I have no idea what you are talking about and neither do you, apparently. This conversation is over.

What I meant was you picked on me, but not on another person, who committed the same supposed infraction. And that that is confusing to the reader.

And why exactly do you object to someone making an educated guess as to what something I am unfamiliar with means?

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30 Jun 2017, 4:26 pm

starkid wrote:

leejosepho wrote:

No, I was. "Just a guess" conveys unfamiliarity

Not necessarily.

It does in this case. I was absolutely, 100% and completely unfamiliar with the use of "legit" at the beginning of a sentence.

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jrjones9933
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30 Jun 2017, 5:04 pm

People also use legit by itself or "seems legit" to express agreement, or use the phrase ironically to express disapproval.

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30 Jun 2017, 5:19 pm

The term that really grates on my nerves is "single," as in "every single day," used for emphasis. It is usually used by some high strung person as a means of manipulation, in my experience.

I have never heard "legit" used the way it's described here, either. It sounds dumb.

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30 Jun 2017, 5:47 pm

Various people have commented in this thread that this language sounds dumb, and that they have never heard it before. This points to the only time I do conditionally approve of linguistic prescriptivism. People should understand that others will judge them for the language that they used based on whether they have heard it before. Particularly, people make a lot of judgments about social class and the unfair implications it carries, based on language. So, if you want to impress those losers, you need to learn the prestige dialect.

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30 Jun 2017, 7:52 pm

I make the mistake of telling people how to act, and yet I need to be the one acting as well as I tell people.

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01 Jul 2017, 7:35 am

IstominFan wrote:

The term that really grates on my nerves is "single," as in "every single day," used for emphasis.

The one I greatly dislike is "unfortunately" at the beginning of an answer to a question. The matter of fortune typically has nothing whatsoever to do with whatever is being reported and the speaker is being disingenuous.

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01 Jul 2017, 9:51 am

The same applies to the word "honestly." It negates all that went before it, and exposes a person as a liar.

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