On: Redis Core Team Update

[the-dude]

As a non-native English speaker, I am always thrown off by the word terrific. It sounds horrible to me, and apparently it can also mean very bad.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrific

[travmatt → the-dude]

I was interested enough in the etymology to do some googling; terrific has its roots in ‘terror’, much like horror/horrific. It was used as a generic intensifier, often hyperbolically, which became common enough that it lost its negative connotation.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56865/why-does-terrible-...

[_pd19 → the-dude]

> it can also mean very bad

this usage is definitely uncommon/archaic

[antirez → the-dude]

Yep it's the same in italian, it means "generating strong fear" or alike. But at this point I got accustomed to the English meaning when I write English.

[xeromal → the-dude]

Awesome is a similar word. It used to mean awe-inspiring, but now can simply describe an enjoyable bowel movement. lol

[bryanlarsen → xeromal]

The original meaning of awful used to be awe-inspiring too. Awesome came about as a replacement when awful started acquiring significant negative connotations.

[mellosouls → the-dude]

I don't remember hearing it used in that way before; I think you would have to go back a couple of centuries for that usage.

You can be confident that you won't need that definition in your own usage unless you decide to write an 18th century character or something.

To add to the etymology links (I was also intrigued):

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/terror-terrific.h...

[pfranz → mellosouls]

I always think of the famous Hindenburg crash tape. "it's a terrific crash" 1937 for those, like me, that weren't sure of the decade.

https://genius.com/Herbert-morrison-hindenburg-disaster-broa...

[mellosouls → pfranz]

Sure - but that is "terrific" in the still-current sense of "massive, of great size" - not the archaic use in the parent.

[pfranz → mellosouls]

The only reason I remember that use is because it sounded out of place to me.

This posting [1] puts the usage change from around 1880-1930. I've always taken the modern usage to mean unusually fine/magnificent.

[1] https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38606/what-gave-...