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I have a friend named Lee. He always litters. I call him Litter-Lee.
That's some fine alliteration, son.
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.I have a friend named Lee. He always litters. I call him Litter-Lee.
The word "literally" in a figurative sense usually heightens whatever it modifies - in an ironic way, to some degree. Given that a lot of people use it, one imagines it has linguistic value.
One other thing and I swear (hope?) I've made all my points. "Literally" is the only term that necessarily employs it's diametric opposite if used figuratively. So it is a special case and deserves to be treated as such.
Ok, gotcha! It’s really not a popular word in the world I live in. Then I joined twitter and saw it everywhereI challenge you to go back and re-read your post and my response
You'll see that "WTF" refers to your claim that half the posts on twitter are using the word "literally", while you were also claiming that it's not a popular word.
Literally.
That's some fine alliteration, son.
After pondering this I suppose it's possible to access dictionary entries on a smartphone.Goddamn millennials have control of our dictionaries!?!?
Thanks. I went to Harvard twice.
Hell, I been there more than that. It's on the Red Line.
Fwiw, I cleaned up the language above.
Is this supposed to be a response to my challenge? If so, you aren't rebutting my point, you are making it.
Your point's longform "it bothers me!" There's nothing wrong with the usage. Something can annoy you without being incorrect.
Not at all. You can disagree, but every reason I've provided has a substantive basis beyond mere annoyance.
Since you jump-started this discussion, I'll expand a bit.
"She was literally staring daggers at me!"
"Staring daggers" is what is figurative here, not "literally". Furthermore, figurative language is already used to provide color and emphasis, so "literally" is redundant in that function as well.
More to the point, there are only two times when someone would say this (or anything like this):
1. They unwittingly misused "literally".
2. They are conspicuously making reference to the pointless and wrong usage, either to poke fun at it or to prove it can be done.
This in stark contrast to other figurative language where the alternate definition is both intentional and not there just to make reference to itself. Frankly, the divide is so wide that I'm not convinced literally-as-figurative would even be considered figurative usage. It's just an exclamation.... one that happens to mean the exact opposite of the word's primary definition. Not exactly efficient communication, no?
You are free to not care about any of this, of course. But to dismiss it as mere grousing is a significant mischaracterization.
The point is that saying it was "misused" implies that any bit of language has a fixed use or meaning. It doesn't.
We younger people communicate with a standard level of detached irony that's completely baffling to older generations
I suppose you could argue that the meaning being clear is a good reason to support the usage. After all, words are just there to convey ideas, right?
I'll confess, you kinda got me here. But given the fact that the redundant qualifier usage exactly opposes the traditional usage makes it a pretty stupid convention. IMO anyway. And in the eyes of all those people who used it and immediately realized their error afterward.
Linguistic conventions aren't really there for one person to take a stand on, though. I mean, there are plenty of usage errors that drive me nuts too (ch"o"mping at the bit, for example) but mostly because I recognize I'm a complete pedant. I just don't agree on "literally" - I do think it has value as figurative language, as a more heightened "younger" (in terms of its signifier) application of a word to convey a surface meaning like "really" or "actually." But it doesn't matter much; people are going to use it whether I find it useful or not. That's language, baby!
I literally just read this entire thread
I challenge you to go back and re-read your post and my response
You'll see that "WTF" refers to your claim that half the posts on twitter are using the word "literally", while you were also claiming that it's not a popular word. Yogi Berra. This restaurant is always too crowded. No wonder nobody ever goes here
Literally.
We agree on this. But I still want you to get off my lawn!