I’m not a linguist, so I’m not sure if evolution is really the right word, or if something like mutation would make more sense. Their point does stand, though. Language changes, and there’s very little individuals can do about it, even if it seems ridiculous. Plenty of words have gone through complete inversion of meaning (semantic change) for example.

I used to be a language prescriptivist. When I learned language in school, there was a firm dichotomy of correctness where you’re either right or wrong. That paradigm is enforced because it’s useful for teaching.

The real world doesn’t work like that, though. Nowadays I’m much more relaxed about worrying about how other people use language when it’s not being changed maliciously. It’s too exhausting to always fight against the tide.

“Unalive” does bother me, though.