Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
There was a viral short featuring someone using it wrong, a bunch of younger people cribbed from the video and started using it wrong.
Okay, just so I don't get annoyed and be boomery about it, what is the new incorrect usage?
Using it as an adjective, to mean "has a pleasing aesthetic."
Isn't that the proper usage?
No, "aesthetic" is generally just a noun, historically. As in "it has a modern/minimalist/cyberpunk aesthetic." Its usage as an adjective just means "relating to the general idea of aesthetics as a field of study," or "someone with a strong sense of and attunement to the design and beauty of things." Using it to just mean "beautiful," basically, is a new usage in just the last 5 years or less.
Then your example should have been "this house is aesthetic". Aesthetic is being used as an adjective.
Saying "this house has a pleasing aesthetic" is correct. Aesthetic is being used as a noun. "Pleasing" is the adjective. While the aesthetic is not defined enough to your liking, it isn't being used as an adjective.
Use your original wording and replace the word "aesthetic" with the word "quality". "This house has a pleasing quality" is a proper sentence. Sure, there's ambiguity as to what that quality is (is it the shape of it? Is it the color? Perhaps the landscaping?), but it isn't grammatically incorrect.
The commenter was telling you how they use it, not giving an example. The commenter told you what the adjective means.
? You're saying exactly the same thing I am. I was giving a definition, not an example. Admittedly confusing since I used the (real) word in its own (slang) definition.
Yeah, I missed "to mean". Looks like at least one other guy did, too.
It might come from non native speakers too. For example in french using aesthetic as an adjective to mean "beautiful" is correct, and it may be true in other romance languages.
Then your example should have been "this house is aesthetic". Aesthetic is being used as an adjective.
Saying "this house has a pleasing aesthetic" is correct. Aesthetic is being used as a noun. "Pleasing" is the adjective. While the aesthetic is not defined enough to your liking, it isn't being used as an adjective.
Use your original wording and replace the word "aesthetic" with the word "quality". "This house has a pleasing quality" is a proper sentence. Sure, there's ambiguity as to what that quality is (is it the shape of it? Is it the color? Perhaps the landscaping?), but it isn't grammatically incorrect.
It is the proper usage.
It's a lot more understandable when you think of it as an abbreviated form of "This is very aesthetic(ally pleasing)."