Comment on Is it normal to "like" or at least not care seeing people suffer?
toynbee@piefed.social 1 week ago“Gainsay” is antiquated? Huh.
Comment on Is it normal to "like" or at least not care seeing people suffer?
toynbee@piefed.social 1 week ago“Gainsay” is antiquated? Huh.
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Yes, it’s largely fallen out of favour in the common vernacular, as in, people generally don’t use it.
There used to be a site (one of the popular dictionaries) that would show you how commonly a word has been used in publications (and, I suppose, online now) over time, but I can’t find it now. It would be interesting to see how less common words rank.
FWIW, I did find a dictionary entry that said it merely means to declare something untrue, with no mention of saying it to gain social status over the person, but that’s how I learned it. Not sure where I picked it up, but if I learned it from a movie or a book, it was being used in that way.
toynbee@piefed.social 1 week ago
Fair enough. Thank you.