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by telesilla 2619 days ago
In this spirit of this thread being completely useless to talk about the app itself I'm going to comment on your use of the word "extra" which is a decidedly recent usage for the word and, as a person born in the 20th century, I'm still getting my head around it. I love watching language evolve around me.
1 comments
SquareWheel 2619 days ago
I assumed they made a typo. What does it mean in this context?
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master-litty 2619 days ago
This is a funny word. I use it often and I'm finding "extra" difficult to explain.

My best take is that you take the general expectation or main thing about a situation -- Then when something is "extra," the magnitude of the expectation or thing is large. But usually there's an unusual spin involved too, only very slightly.

Example: My fiancee's makeup is extra. Makeup is typically accenting beauty and lightly applied, so when it's extra, it's overwhelmingly pretty and heavily applied.

In this context, Hacker News is known for mostly serious discussion and polite chains of building thoughts. The users are extra today by being dramatically serious and having impolite chains of volatile thoughts, or maybe even chains of echochambering.

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SquareWheel 2618 days ago
That is pretty tough to wrap one's head around. I guess it requires reading into the subject from context and estimating the most likely characteristic being magnified.

Thank you for the explanation.

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master-litty 2616 days ago
It was a tough one to write out too.

Hopefully more help than ramble. Thank you for coming to my TED talk :)

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peteretep 2619 days ago
Does your use of it differ from the expression “over the top”, or are those the same?
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master-litty 2616 days ago
Good find! "Logically" they're pretty close, "emotionally" they can be different.

If her makeup is "over the top" that's a bad thing, she's not dressed appropriately. If her makeup is "extra" it's meant to be encouraging -- it's "over the top" but the "inappropriate" change is welcomed.

"Extra" is sometimes used with that sarcastic element or downward twist (seen by OP) that chips away the welcoming bit. In that context, I think the usage is similar to "over the top".

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