Maybe I’m wrong, English is my third language though …
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Do you mean where people use it as an adjective? E.g., ‘This house is very aesthetic’ where they mean ‘beautiful’?
There was a viral short featuring someone using it wrong, a bunch of younger people cribbed from the video and started using it wrong.
Okay, just so I don’t get annoyed and be boomery about it, what is the new incorrect usage?
Using it as an adjective, to mean “has a pleasing aesthetic.”
Using it as an adjective, to mean “has a pleasing aesthetic.”
Isn’t that the proper usage?
No, “aesthetic” is generally just a noun, historically. As in “it has a modern/minimalist/cyberpunk aesthetic.” Its usage as an adjective just means “relating to the general idea of aesthetics as a field of study,” or “someone with a strong sense of and attunement to the design and beauty of things.” Using it to just mean “beautiful,” basically, is a new usage in just the last 5 years or less.
Then your example should have been “this house is aesthetic”. Aesthetic is being used as an adjective.
Saying “this house has a pleasing aesthetic” is correct. Aesthetic is being used as a noun. “Pleasing” is the adjective. While the aesthetic is not defined enough to your liking, it isn’t being used as an adjective.
Use your original wording and replace the word “aesthetic” with the word “quality”. “This house has a pleasing quality” is a proper sentence. Sure, there’s ambiguity as to what that quality is (is it the shape of it? Is it the color? Perhaps the landscaping?), but it isn’t grammatically incorrect.
Using it as an adjective, to mean “has a pleasing aesthetic.”
The commenter was telling you how they use it, not giving an example. The commenter told you what the adjective means.
? You’re saying exactly the same thing I am. I was giving a definition, not an example. Admittedly confusing since I used the (real) word in its own (slang) definition.
It might come from non native speakers too. For example in french using aesthetic as an adjective to mean “beautiful” is correct, and it may be true in other romance languages.
How are people using it wrong? How should it be used instead? We (I) cannot guess context…
People use a lot of words incorrectly on the internet.
for example, ‘Internet’ is a proper noun and should always be capitalized
Would you like a kleenex?
No, it’d only end up in the dumpster.
Literally, for sure.
Ahem, it’s “alot”
It’s an aesthetic decision.
I wasn’t very aesthetic in high school. I preferred video games to sports.
Honestly, try to find a word people are using right on the internet. That’s the real challenge
Itso ironic right?
There is an appropriate xkcd for this.
Words take on new meanings sometimes due to cultural experiences, and the new usage of the word is one of those meanings.
Sure, but Jesus Christ fucking up part of speech is a childish mistake to embrace. Maybe we shouldn’t just go along with every fuckup people on Tic Tok lean into.
Hate to break it to ya boss but part of speech is descriptive, not prescriptive. Childish would be insisting that every word stay in the tidy little box assigned to it rather than recognizing and appreciating language’s flexibility and constant evolution.
Yep, real childish of me to insist that our goddamned primary communication protocols remain consistent because it would cut down on fun improvisation.
consistent language
Forsooth, I find thy point fit only for the jakes.
That level of change took centuries and I still understand it.
The internet speeds up change to the point where we’ll lose intelligibility.
Well, yeah, language is dynamic, but there are so many fad uses of words that are caused by people not knowing the real/original/normal use of the word and then spread by the Internet and then forgotten as quickly as they began. If not for social media, these would be limited to 12 middle schoolers at band camp. This feels like one of those.
Have you heard of “false friends?” Words that have come from one language into another, but due to use have completely changed meaning along the way, often to mean the exact opposite of their original meaning. This is common enough that, especially if you speak a Latin based language and learn English as a second language, you’ll see them everywhere.
My point is, that this is not an internet phenomena and has been a feature of languages since there has been language. Some don’t last long, others are so embedded in our lexicons that we don’t even notice.
You kind of just described what a meme is
