We're still going to need a word for "exponentially" though, and it would help if that word contained "exponent." "Terrific" is an unnecessary word in English, just because we have a ton of words for things that inspire fear.

"Exponentially" being used to mean "a lot" is bad not because it's a new usage, but because "exponentially" is being demoted to a word that has a bunch (a shitload, a fuckton, lots, plenty, too many) synonyms when in its accurate usage it's a word with few or none. You're losing meaning when you make a thing more complicated to say.

Of course, this sort of usage happens a lot, too, but it's always because some people are using a technical-sounding word to substitute for a common word in order to give the impression of expertise.*

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* as opposed to when technicians steal a common word and make it a very specific technical term, which also happens all the time.