To ask when we reversed the meanings of worse and worst?

[daimbarsatemydogsbone]

And why wasn't I told?
Examples from here recently -
Husband mocking me, says I’ve changed for the worst
Well, this is the worse start to a year since 1939.

Anyone? Did this come from the USA or somewhere?

Id need more than two examples that could easily be explained as a mistake or typing error to believe we have switched them round

“We” did not. I still use them correctly.

I think it’s because in spoken English it’s not always easy to hear the difference, depending on the next word, and so much written English is now showing errors that were always there but we couldn’t see them because they were spoken. Texting and social media mean a lot of people doing a lot more written communication than ten years ago.

Exactly as pp said - ‘we’ did not.

But a lot of people do use them interchangeably/incorrectly (or don’t even know there’s a difference or distinction). As pp said this becomes much more noticeable when more people are communicating more by written word.

I've never heard of this.

I've not heard of this either. An example: This is the worst summer weather for many years. It's even worse than last year. Surely this is correct?

It’s not something I notice a lot of. If it’s written down I assume it’s a typo or someone has simply misheard the saying. Many of my friends don’t have English as their first language and would do similar. Where they have misheard, the saying.

We've moved this over to Pedants' Corner. Or is it Pedant's?

Lots of people use words and terms incorrectly it's just the way they've been brought up or the way their brain has retained it. My sister says corpus mentis instead of compos. Some people say brought instead of bought, I'm sure they don't do it to irritate people it's just instilled in them for various reasons. Just leave people alone.

I find these things happen overnight. I can't explain that part.

"I want to be apart of that"

(it's a part of)

"This happens everyday"

(it's every day)

"You can not do that"

(it's cannot)

These all turned up and got adopted by over half the population seemingly overnight.

What I want to know is why people switch and what their thought process is to switching to a new way without explanation. Or..... do they not have a thought process about it?

It's pedant's if it's one pedant.
Pedants' if it's multiple pedants.

I think we can be sure there are multiple pedants here. 😀

Many of my friends don’t have English as their first language and would do similar.

Not IME. They've usually been taught well. If I wanted to discuss irregular comparative and superlative adjectives, it's not my British colleagues I'd go to, for the most part.

I've not come across that one yet.

My friends who don't have English as a first language are mostly spot on with grammar, much more so than some native English speakers I work with.

My current bugbear is pound. What happens to pounds?

'That's six pound please'

That's 15 pound please'

Gah.

In all honesty, I don’t think Ops use of reversed is technically correct. I think OP means that people use them interchangeably. 😁

My friends who don't have English as a first language are mostly spot on with grammar, much more so than some native English speakers I work with.
I agree.

Mumsnet has been a revelation in just how bad some people's English is.

I assumed it was a tongue in cheek comment when OP said about worse and worst being reversed.

People just tend to use them incorrectly.

That isn't what I meant, but you might be right.