Mine is that at my age (barely made it into Gen Z on the old end) I just found out today that a Bo Weevil is an insect (beetle) and not some kind of mole or similar rodent.
For almost my entire life, I’d been using the word “Apparently” to mean “Allegedly” or “I’d heard/read, but haven’t verified”.
It actually means “Evidently” or “As can be plainly observed”. So pretty much the opposite connotation.
I’ve been trying to get myself out of that habit, but even judging from my comment history, it’s apparently pretty hard.
(I did it right that time!)
I think the problem was that I’d thought it was being used ironically.
I’ve always understood it as “This is apparent to people who are familiar with the issue, but since I am not, I have to take their word for it. If I looked into the issue, I’m reasonably certain I would come to the same conclusion.”
Apparently that’s not how other people parse it, though.
I am not sure you were as wrong as you think - see definitions 2 and 3 here
Usage of words shifts and sometimes expands over time.
I would personally definitely interpret “apparently” and “plainly” differently - “apparently” to me is “the evidence so far does seem to point this way, but I am not necessarily convinced, or have strong feelings either way” vs “plainly” is “the evidence is clear, I am convinced, and so should you be” - although obviously context would matter as well and could alter this interpretation.
Edit: even your example usage “I’ve been trying to get myself out of that habit, but even judging from my comment history, it’s apparently pretty hard” - to me the usage of “apparently” here indicates similar tension and/or contradiction, in this case between belief/intent (I am trying to stop the habit) and evidence (but my comment history shows otherwise) - it wouldn’t work quite as well with “plainly”
It would work with “evidently” but carry more of a connotation of confirmation and shift the emphasis (I am trying to, but it’s hard as confirmed by evidence) rather than contradiction (I would like to think I am doing it, but evidence shows otherwise) - of course you might have meant it either way (or even neither) - I am just saying how it reads to me.
I can understand why it might bother some people, since it’s kind of like “literally”, where the “new” definition is the opposite of the “traditional” definition, and we already have perfectly good words to fill in for the new definition.
I also dislike how “apparent” means “clear” or “obvious”, but I’d been using “apparentLY” to mean “allegedly”.
But thank you for the affirmation that I was using it in “one” proper way!
