Literally now literally means not literally
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Please look up "Hyperbole" in the dictionary. This should solve the issue for you. P.S. Get a life. ;P
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Tom Clement wrote:
"Virtually unstoppable" = "Not unstoppable"
That only means it can be overridden to be stoppable.
I'm brazilian and english (well, human languages in general) aren't my best skill, so, sorry by my english. (if you want we can speak in C# or VB.Net =p) "Given the chance I'd rather work smart than work hard." - PHS241 "'Sophisticated platform' typically means 'I have no idea how it works.'"
This seems on topic... Your signature should read:
I'm brazilian and eEnglish (well, human languages in general) aren't my best skill, so, sorry by for my eEnglish. (if you want we can speak in C# or VB.Net =p)
Your nationality should probably start with a capital too (ie "Brazilian"), but if you ask me it's a common noun so it makes sense to start with a lowercase letter. "English" as in "The English Language" is a proper noun though, and capitalizing the word would also help parse the sentence. Disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker either. Also, if your signature is tongue-in-cheek then it's all right.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Language is always evolving, just as the linked article points out. This use of the word goes back centuries. Getting hung up over changes in language isn't going to stop it and dictionaries always report common usage. Modern media (even TV) have accelerated the changes ("gay", "wicked", ...) I'll join you in a rearguard action to protect our language, but we "literally" lost this one many years ago! I save my rants for such horrors as aberrant apostrophes, your versus you're (or worse, there/their/they're) and loose versus lose! :)
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
I agree totally; it's probably the biggest irritant of any, when it comes to diction. However, another is when people spell "too" as "to."
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So if I say 'I'm literally pulling my hair out' How do you know if I'm actually pulling my hair out or not? It introduces ambiguity to a word that's sole purpose is to remove ambiguity.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
I literarily agree.
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I agree totally; it's probably the biggest irritant of any, when it comes to diction. However, another is when people spell "too" as "to."
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Clearly, here "Virtually" = "Almost". Which in context also means practically or actually.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert EinsteinBrilliant! So virtually indistructable means literally almost indistructable. I love English. But it does suffer as a means of communication. On the other hand, what fun is it if there isn't enough ambiguity to play with?? The French go to great extreemes to keep their language pure, but I do not think that appropriate. But at it's core - all communication worth having is art and thus must be beautiful, whimsical, inventive, sometimes informitave, and yes - ambiguous in measure.
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I'd think that's still a case of exaggeration, I've never known anyone to literally pull their hair out. That's what makes it clear - context. And of course other things like tone that may not come across well in writing.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Begging the Question is often used when Raising the Question is correct Begging the Question is a logical fallacy which results from circular logic
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I used to get excited about such blatant corruption, but now that the number of people too lazy or ignorant to use their own native language correctly far exceeds the number of us who care, it hardly seems worth the effort. Let them drown in their stupidity... :|
Will Rogers never met me.
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I'd think that's still a case of exaggeration, I've never known anyone to literally pull their hair out. That's what makes it clear - context. And of course other things like tone that may not come across well in writing.
Nah, if anyone said they had "literally pulled their hair out" I would assume they meant that they had physical wrenched the hair from the follicles. Otherwise, what's the point of the word? But then there are a number of other words used inappropriately to apply stress to a point. For example, "absolutely", "incredibly", "awesome". I do think that the language is losing a lot of its richness because of the lack of imagination of the utterers. Oh, and I would ban the word "like" when used as a substitute for breathing.
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PB 369,783 wrote:
particularly gets on my tits
Really? And your complaining about "literally"?
-NP Never underestimate the creativity of the end-user.
You're ... oh I get it, you're being ironic. :D
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
I'm surprised that no one has brought it up already so I'll play the role of the pedantic grammar Nazi: >>Now I don't normally get to pedantic...<< should be >>Now I don't normally get too pedantic...<< Now that I've gotten that off of my two tits I'll get back to the point, and say that I, too, find it offensive that "literally" is being used figuratively.
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PB 369,783 wrote:
as this has wound me up.
To literally lick your wounds? ;) Marc
I didn't know the past tense of shit was shat. I suppose shitted doesn't sound quite right either.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Did you actually read the article? It was used that way TWO CENTURIES ago, and there are lots of examples of other words that have had their meaning transformed over the years. That's how language works, that's how it always worked, and that's how it will continue to work. There's nothing "improper" about people adopting a new usage of a word and eventually updating the dictionary to reflect it's common usage...that's just language evolution. You are coming across like a butthurt COBOL developer who is sad that his language is no longer in popular use for new projects :laugh: Common man, get with the times! :)
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Is this a literal complaint about sarcasm or a sarcastic complaint about literalism or ... Reminds me of a joke about word use - During his normal boring lecture, a professor says 'In some languages, a double negative is a positive. And in others, it is a stronger negative. But in no language is a double positive a negative' And from the back of the lecture hall we hear 'Yeah, right' Sarcastically yours, Doug
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Now I don't normally get to pedantic about English, grammar etc but this one[^] particularly gets on my tits. Both the wrong usage of it and the fact it is now going in the Dictionary because people can't use it properly. What do others think of this? To give an example 'This literally made my blood boil" and "I was literally climbing the ceiling". I mean if literally means not literally then how can we emphasise that "We literally shat ourselves" for example. I'm off home as this has wound me up.
Literally have the same literal use in Spanish and I've heard people that also use it in a figurative sense, so I assume that times change.
CEO at: - Rafaga Systems - Para Facturas - Modern Components for the moment...