Ok – i promise this will be quick and painless.
People have got to stop using the word “literally” to mean exactly the opposite of what it does mean. I’ve actually heard people misuse it on the news, on their blogs, everywhere.
Literally does not mean “practically.” Quite the opposite.
When you say “literally,” you mean that the outrageous thing you’re saying is true in the exact way you said it. (I’m going to use the most recent example of misuse but not attribute it to who said it, ’cause i’m really not trying to pick on him or her. It’s just fresh in my mind.) If you say something is “literally everywhere,” you’re pretty much always going to be lying, because nothing is literally everywhere. Not air, not matter – possibly time, because time and space are conjoined, but now i’m completely off topic.
To quote my favorite grammar website, “Don’t say of someone that he ‘literally blew up’ unless he swallowed a stick of dynamite.”
Thanks for your attention! Have a literally lovely day.
Monday, December 8th, 2008 11:19 am • English
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December 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I love it. You should look up Way With Words podcast. Kasey loves those and they’re pretty entertaining.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“Your” and “You’re” have been bugging the shit out of me lately. GOD!
December 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Before observation – and hence collapse of its wavefunction – an electron is literally everywhere.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Assuming that there is more than one electron that hasn’t been observed at any given moment, that’s bs. Right?
December 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Assuming more than one nonobserved electrons, the statement is NOT bs. They can both have a wavefunction occupying the same space.
As for one observed and one nonobserved electron (though you didn’t ask)… I’m not sure if the observed one excludes the nonobserved wavefunction or not, so there’s a possibility my original statement isn’t as literal as I thought!
December 8th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
That literally blew my mind!
December 8th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I love that you have a favorite grammar website.
Largely because this implies that you have more than one.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Your so right! I, too, am LITERALLY sick of people misusing the word!!! LMAO!! However, I do think the opposite of “literally” is “figuratively.”
December 10th, 2008 at 1:36 am
While we’re beefing about bad grammar, let me just throw this one out there:
People, please learn the difference between when to say “me” versus “I.” Please!!!!!!!! I learned this IN GRADE SCHOOL! Most of you people think you sound MORE SOPHISTICATED by saying “I” all the time, yet you end up sounding MORE IGNORANT!
Here’s how it works, there’s a rule (I learned in grade school): Just temporarily eliminate the other person from the sentence. If you were the ONLY person in the sentence, would you say “I” or “me?” THAT’S WHAT YOU SAY!
Example: You’re putting a caption on a picture of you and your friend. You would say: “this is a picture of Joe and ME” because if you eliminated “Joe” from the caption, you would simply say, “this is a picture of _____________ ME,” not, “this is a picture of ____________ I,” RIGHT???????!!!!!!!!!!!! Figure this out! It’s not hard!
Thank you. Please, pass this on.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Right-o, Big Bro – both about “figuratively” being the antonym of “literally” and about the usage of “me” versus “I.” That one bugs the crap out of me, too.
December 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Oh, and what’s this silent H crap? WHAT IS THIS SILENT H CRAP????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AN _istoric? There’s an H! Say “A historic!”
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:08 pm
[...] already knows how much i hate it when people misuse the word “literally,” so no need to write about that again, even if my annoyance only continues to rise. But [...]