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Neither_Weight6502 t1_j6o39yf wrote

I’m pretty sure it means like, so in love I can do a back/front flip. Like that level of excitement or joy

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Phage0070 t1_j6o415u wrote

"Head over heels" actually began around the 1700's as the more literal "heels over head", and then later on in the 1800's took on the figurative "heels over head" form which doesn't make much sense. The evolution of language is strange that way, for example how "literally" has been changing to mean "figuratively" somewhat recently.

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pannnetone t1_j6o7bst wrote

>for example how "literally" has been changing to mean "figuratively" somewhat recently.

That always irritates me as a non-english person. Always thought it's just dumb people who don't know how to talk properly

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Phage0070 t1_j6o8529 wrote

There are tons of examples of this strange changing of language. For example today "OK" is used for acknowledgment or agreement but most people don't know its origin. It is actually an abbreviation of "oll korrect", a deliberate misspelling for the purposes of humor in the 1800's of the phrase "all correct".

I can only imagine how bewildering these idiosyncrasies must be for someone trying to learn the language.

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pannnetone t1_j6o8l4t wrote

Ha! Didn't know this and in fact I was asking this myself for quite some time. Thanks.

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ToBeSimpleAgain t1_j6oaewr wrote

The literally replacing figuratively is supposed to denote the hyperbolic nature of what is being said, no?

Like: omg, I'm literally ded.

Everyone knows that that it is impossible, but we saying to give emphasis to what is being said.

So, it's really just a hyperbolic device. Language is funny like that, but I can't see how it's wrong since I think the absurdity is part of the intent of use.

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LoudTsu t1_j6o6b4e wrote

When you start saying things like "I know it's only been two weeks but we're moving in together!"

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