AS MARK MCCABE sang on his seminal classic “Maniac 2000″ – life: it has no meaning.

But what about words? They seem to be losing their meaning at a rate of knots. Words that had fixed, dependable definitions only one generation ago seem to be coming loose and shifting around like some sort of linguistic tectonic plate during an earthquake.

Let’s check out the damage.

Literally

Flickr / Batara Flickr / Batara / Batara

Are you? Oh, are you REALLY?

Hacking

Nowadays, posting a status from a friend’s Facebook account is referred to as “hacking”.

Flickr / fakelvis Flickr / fakelvis / fakelvis

It’s not.

Hero

Flickr / jblahblalblah Flickr / jblahblalblah / jblahblalblah

He got a round in, guys, he didn’t save any children from a burning building.

Random

Flickr / bichxa Flickr / bichxa / bichxa

Like

Flickr / grisha_21 Flickr / grisha_21 / grisha_21

An Irish verbal tic. We’re all guilty of it.

Banter

Flickr / crashoverreason Flickr / crashoverreason / crashoverreason

Epic

Flickr / Tree Leaf Clover Flickr / Tree Leaf Clover / Tree Leaf Clover

Seriously, Coppers last night is not to be likened to mythic, heroic acts of bravery.

Legendary

See above.

Flickr / Silence a gogo Flickr / Silence a gogo / Silence a gogo

What words have lost all meaning for you? Like, literally, just have some epic banter in the comments. 

h/t AskReddit

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