Scrutable

Iron Magpie wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 2:18 pm Is this the kind of disinformation campaign of which you speak?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ckuk-brand

Or is this?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... festo-site

Colour me unsurprised they have resorted to this. The tory party could literally* slide beneath a snakes belly with a top hat on...

*Of course not literally but the meaning of the L word seems to have been largely forgotten in modern conversation...

Tessa K wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:43 pm
Iron Magpie - yes, 'literally' does seem to have become an all-purpose intensifier, meaning 'very' or something similar.

Woodchopper wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 4:53 pm

Tessa K wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:43 pm
Iron Magpie - yes, 'literally' does seem to have become an all-purpose intensifier, meaning 'very' or something similar.

It has been annoying people for hundreds of years though.

OED wrote:...
c. colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.
Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).
1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.
...

geejaytee wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 4:58 pm

Woodchopper wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 4:53 pm

Tessa K wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:43 pm
Iron Magpie - yes, 'literally' does seem to have become an all-purpose intensifier, meaning 'very' or something similar.

It has been annoying people for hundreds of years though.

Hunting around on OED, it is listed as "colloquial", but the first citation for this use is 1769:

OED wrote:...
c. colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.
Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).
1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.
...

So 350 years ago.

Jo Swinson’s party has produced publications in more than a dozen seats with titles such as Cheltenham Courier, North West Leeds News and York News to promote their candidates. Each “newspaper” has a similar look to a traditional news outlet but is accompanied by a small line of text saying it is a party publication.

The tactic of masquerading political pamphlets as newspapers has been used by all major British political parties for many years, with local Labour and Conservative candidates also taking the same approach during this election. The Tories have produced a similar publication called Pudsey Future, while voters in Tooting, south London, have received a publication called Daily Press, which presents itself as a newspaper that is “free, paid for by local residents”, but does not state on its front page that it is a Labour campaign leaflet.

username wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:09 pm 350 years of literal annoyances.

snoozeofreason wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:03 pm Just bringing the thread literally back on track.

Someone has distributed a faked Guardian article claiming that leaked Liberal Democrat emails show Chuka Umunna plotting a coup against Jo Swinson.

And the Liberal Democrats have faked emails from themselves as part of a long running argument over their alleged sale of voter data to the remain campaign. A senior member of their campaign team has been suspended for ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶a̶t̶ forgery.

I was going to post screenshots of this tool having already been successfully used to troll verified accounts, including UK politicians, but the account that was doing this -"shaniquaotoole" - is already suspended.

A zoom-in on the pro-brexit camp shows the same 4 nobody accounts that are apparently cranking out the hits, and getting all the retweets...

...again from a great deal of fake-looking, and freshly created accounts. This time, the volume represents 19% of all interactions. They seem to be stepping up their game as the election draws closer.