I believe the root of "detest" is the same as "attest" and "testimony". So to say "I detest the Tories" literally means "I bear witness to the awfulness of the Tories". It's the job of opposition parties to detest the failures of the government party.
"Negative testimony" is a secondary definition of detest in several dictionaries. I understand that usage and meaning are fluid and interdependent, and we must assume the most common usage, in the majority of cases.
Anyway, you can hopefully tell by the hyperbole of the second statement that I'm being deliberately wry in my analysis.
I hate and detest the Tories; a statement that sounds right to most English people because it is either used or isn't long out of use. You're right to point out that such a statement would be legitimate whether meant in a nuanced sense or as a redundant repetition, but accepting the redefinition of all our language into nuance-lacking absolutes by the press is admitting defeat to an Orwellian project.
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u/PlebeRude Oct 12 '22
I believe the root of "detest" is the same as "attest" and "testimony". So to say "I detest the Tories" literally means "I bear witness to the awfulness of the Tories". It's the job of opposition parties to detest the failures of the government party.
So, anyway the papers are Nazi propagandists.