"No, I generally really do like it"

[GingerFrogs]

Wtf is this about? Surely the word should be genuinely?!

Also "properly" for probably?

Have these words now switched meanings?!

They defiantly have.

Single … tee hee!!

'Generally I like liver, unless it is pig's'.
'I generally enjoy ballet but find contemporary difficult at times'
Do these examples help?

It's in sentences when they are trying to convey that they honestly really do feel something...so genuine is the thing they are trying to say.

It's like the way clique became click. Why is that about?

*Wtf not why

I don't think it's stretching the meaning of those words beyond reason.

I'd say 'generally' being used to convey enthusiasm for something is not the best choice when clearly 'genuinely' better conveys that sentiment unless used as elephantoverthehill has to convey how it can work in a conversational tone.

How can 'properly' and 'probably' be interchanged, however? What incorrect usage have you come across? Something like: "That cheese sandwich was properly ok" i.e. it was pretty good versus "That cheese sandwich was probably ok" i.e. denoting a sense of uncertainty that is was ok.

Urgh, this drives me crazy! They're all saying it these days. It seems nobody is able to say the word "genuinely" anymore. I thought it was a British thing but they did the same on Love Island Australia (don't judge me).

Poutine, I get where you're coming from but people don't use it to stretch the meaning, it's just a mistake in pronunciation, like "pacifically" for "specifically". Watch any TV program with 20 somethings and they'll all be saying:

"I generally like her" (I really like her)
"I generally didn't know that" (I honestly didn't know that)
"I generally thought I was right" (I was convinced I was right)

They mean genuinely but it comes out as generally for some reason.

Living abroad, I seem to notice these English quirks more and I've been waiting for a thread about this as I "generally" thought I was the only one to notice! (Shudder...)

Dolce Then it seems I have caught the wrong end of the stick. If this is the new version of 'could of' in the mistaken pronunciation stakes then the OP is entirely in the right. That sort of thing gets on my tits.

I think it's just common typos? Atleast that's what I always assume...

Oh, you mean people are actually saying that out loud?

I think it's just common typos?

I've only ever heard the generally/genuinely mistake in speaking.

"I generally like her" (I really like her)

I would take 'generally', in the above, as meaning:

I usually like her (but not in this case) .

DolceFarNiente yeah, I misunderstood! I've never heard anyone saying those wrong...

Generally seems to be the spoken replacement of (generally) more formal or written indicators such as:
Overall
On the whole
Usually
Mostly

"I generally like her" (I really like her)

I would take 'generally', in the above, as meaning:

I usually like her (but not in this case).

Exactly, counterpoint! However, today's yoof use it to mean genuinely or really, truly (it's normally clear from the context that they don't mean "generally"). I'm pretty sure it's they're just pronouncing genuinely wrong.

For example, it's so common to hear these days:

I'm gutted she dumped me. I generally liked her.

The speaker doesn't mean "overall, I liked her". He is trying to say "I genuinely liked her".

In your first example I'd say that "generally" is correct. You'd need some context to work out which word to use though.

It vaguely points towards a meaning, but it's laziness by not choosing something more precise.
In the above example, "I generally like her" would be better served by "I used to like her".
It almost fits the role of a conversational filler. It also limits forming the past tense.

Anyway, I'm 'generally' too tired to make sense of such things in the middle of the night.

Night night.

I think the OP has been quite clear that people are using the wrong word for the context, because it sounds like the right word. I haven't heard these examples myself but I rarely hear people say standing (instead of stood) and sitting (instead of sat) these days, even BBC presenters.

British people should speak English better than anyone else but compared to well-educated foreigners it often isn't the case. I think that these people don't read very often or don't pay attention to what they are reading, and that is why their vocabulary is limited.

In terms of written English, on a similar previous thread someone postulated that everyone now has a public platform to write (Facebook, Twitter, Internet forums) which previously we didn't have. So it isn't that our written English is getting worse, more that we are now exposed to the writings of a much wider proportion of the population, including those who are less well educated. However there does seem to me to be something of a contagion effect with some of these examples.

It's even more confusing if you live in/venture into Norfolk.

A Norfolk-born member of my family always gets me on the hop when he says "I really like...." as, to me, it sounds EXACTLY like he's saying "I rarely like....".

Every single time, I'm just about to ask why he isn't generally(!) very keen on something and then my brain catches up with my ears and realises that he's actually just said that he IS a fan of said person or thing.

Not sure why, but I've noticed that people have started saying 'despise' where 'detest' would have been used in the past. They obviously mean dislike very much, but 'despise' is more complicated. There's an element of looking down on someone as being beyond the pale, which sounds odd if they're talking about broccoli. Is it because of predictive text, which I'm sure has made people seem more illiterate than they used to be?

Can we add the generally/genuinely hated 'literally' to the list please.

And per se.

We did this a few weeks ago
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3347966-to-be-genuinely-generally-annoyed-light-hearted-sort-of