this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
144 points (88.7% liked)

Showerthoughts

42018 readers
722 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Since it's widely accepted that the word "literally" can be used to add emphasis, we need another word that can be used when you want to make it clear that you really mean "literally" in the original sense.

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] xorollo@leminal.space 4 points 3 days ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

Literally literally

[–] ulkesh@piefed.social 5 points 3 days ago (4 children)

"widely accepted"

Yeah, no. People who use it incorrectly simply don't understand language or meaning. Just because there's a lot of people who misuse the word doesn't mean it's widely accepted. A lot of people believe in a god, doesn't make it true.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Or just stop widely accepting the dual meaning.

[–] Dearth@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How do you accomplish that?

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Bullying mostly

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

“You” has to be a general you not a specific you.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 3 days ago

"Actually" and "truly" and probably a few other synonyms already exist.

[–] LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I would argue that, uses of literally, in the literal sense, in common language, is rarely used, any more. Mostly because, If you have to add "believe me" at the end of your sentence, it makes you seem sus. And "literally", in common language, is usually added to the end, in the same way, the sarcastic, and facetious, presentations use. So we've adopted different signifiers, mostly, anyway. People usually say, "you are not going to believe what happened to me today ". Even the sarcastic etc uses are dying out, in a time when, extreme positions aren't, easily taken at face value for being over the top, or, easily definable as sarcasm etc, which is what sarcasm relies heavily on. I think, all the extreme stuff going on, is making it almost impossible to even use literally, in almost either application. I'm sad! It's such a fun word to say.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think we just need to be cutting off the fingers of dictionary editors one by one until they turn it back the way it should be.

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Dictionary editors don't establish what is valid in English. English communicators do.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jtrek@startrek.website 4 points 3 days ago

"Exactly". "Truly". "Literally, in the traditional sense not the post modern sense where it means emphatically or figuratively"

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

"widely accepted' by me and my douche teenage friends

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

People just put extra emphasis or say literally literally

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›