Literally

I remember a physics gcse class many years ago where my teacher told us that if we didn't do X in the exam, we'd literally be throwing marks down the drain.

There was a guy in the class called Mark and the idea of throwing him (and others like him obv.) down a drain was rather appealing.

was that deliberate?

TS: literally vs. it's academic

I mean umm, No. If only I were that clever.

FUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!!!!

Aw, ken, jhoshea is just being effusive.

If you doubt this to be true, just check out my personal website:
http://www.adorasvitak.com/Main.html

"Heat stroke can literally fry your brain like a boiled egg"

"The Whig Party literally fell apart during the 1850's"

Those crazy fried boiled eggs.

During coverage of the big Bay Area earthquake in...whatever year the quake happened during the World Series, I was very irritated at the news people for using the word thusly: "The freeway (house, bridge, etc.) literally collapsed." Yes, it's true, the top of the freeway did fall, but was there ever some question that its collapse might have been figurative?? (What they really meant was "The freeway fucking collapsed!")

Any Jamie Oliver tv show.

It's deliberate but it's so awesome I don't care:

when i was younger, there was no such thing as irony, and if there was, no decent person had ever heard of it. now--its irony in the shower, irony for breakfast, irony in your afternoon nap. irony has literally kidnapped everything good and decent and tied it to a chair and literally beaten it.

-- max, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 06:33 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

joe

biden

stop

report all miscreants to this blog:

http://literally.barelyfitz.com/

“It is time for him to explain how eight years of deregulation policies have brought us to this dangerous ground,” Mr. Reid said. “And most importantly, it is time for him to explain how his plan — drafted literally under cover of darkness — will help America weather this storm.”

My colleague claimed to be literally on fire today.

She also uses 'to be brutally honest' for very mundane inoffensive truths.

I thought people had stopped doing this? I don't think I've heard anyone misuse literally in like 5 years.

I was literally glued to my seat

My favourite example of this stems from when a high school teacher told my class that if we didn't remember.... something or other... we'd be literally throwing marks down the drain. There was a guy in the class called Mark.

I remember a physics gcse class many years ago where my teacher told us that if we didn't do X in the exam, we'd literally be throwing marks down the drain.

There was a guy in the class called Mark and the idea of throwing him (and others like him obv.) down a drain was rather appealing.

― uptoeleven (uptoeleven), Monday, February 20, 2006 8:35 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Blimey! Search Enjinn's improved!

my teacher told us that if we didn't do X in the exam, we'd literally be throwing marks down the drain.

This is liberal schooling gone too far

especially when they've gone Euro

Popjustice says that the new Britney single is "literally quite good."

I've literally never heard anyone criticise this misuse before. I've literally said literally like this on purpose so many times that I literally sometimes use it in the wrong context on purpose. It's literally a pain in the face.

I meant to document this last week, but on CNN last Friday before the presidential debate, some commentator said that John McCain is going to have to literally reach out of the television and embrace the Americans watching the debate.

Man, that was a close one.

I seriously don't know if I could've literally held my shit together if a thing like that happened.

i hate it when words are literally misused, hehe

Joe Biden uses this literally--and I mean literally--every day.

I just misused "literally" in a way that gave me pause. Some old friend popped up on Facebook, like they do, and her status message was about being in the Air Force and doing all kinds of strength training and loads of push ups and such, and I said something dumb like, "Yeah! You were always made to kick ass, and now you can do it literally."

What I meant, of course, was that now she is physically strong in addition to being super cool. But literally doesn't mean one less level of figurative speech down from where you began, it means word-for-word. To literally kick ass, there must be an ass, and someone must be driving their foot into it with great force.

I feel stupid for employing one of my own linguistic pet peeves.

I guess wasn't a step down in how figurative the speech was. More of a lateral move.

"The Whig Party literally fell apart during the 1850's"

See, there's another borderline case. It's not a flat-out misuse of the word as much as it's an abuse of it, sticking it unnecessarily into a sentence as an intensifier. The sentence is fine without it.

maybe if she was a paratrooper she would be literally kicking ass ... but then I don't know all that much about the different branches of the military and whether anyone in the Air Force would be given training in hand to hand combat, or be in a position where they would employ those skills in the field.

Doesn't much matter, I don't think, unless I was trying to refer specifically to glutes and the kicking thereof.

it's not as egregious a misuse as if she were a legal secretary ...

Of course not, but that's exactly what bugs me about it. The thought will come through with its intended meaning, I'm sure, but it will still have a word in it that's totally wrong. I should have said "physically" instead, because it's what I meant.

Hey, if I don't edit my Facebook replies, who will?

it makes sense, but it's pretty corny... reminds me of some bad pun Bob Saget would use on America's Funniest Home Videos. i read it like "we're literally raising the bar! on what flying should be". cue goofy music and canned audience laughter as a drunk passenger stumbles around and vomits on an old lady.

* laughs *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPz4mKHd0FE

The thing is that when I hear the world 'literally' used like this in the wild, person is nearly always saying something enthusiastic, impressed, excited or good humoured

i thought this was a good one. there is a hotel in boston whose restaurant is called the ruby room, and suitably the decor is all red. the section for corporate events is headed:

Meetings that will have you seeing red. Well, not literally.

so precisely and completely wrong, really an accomplishment

idk you could be blind & irascible

Palm trees, ivory beaches and a languid lifestyle: to outsiders, the South Pacific lives up to its paradise image. But the islanders themselves are weighed down by problems – literally. The region has the world's highest obesity rates, along with associated chronic diseases.

it means "listen to me"

literally one month ago

https://ig.me/am8rz2YnB48osC

The misuse of "literally" is most often an attempt at hyperbole, in the mistaken belief that overstating the truth makes one's misstatements stronger and more persuasive.

LITERALLY vs ACTUALLY vs Just say it vs Shut up

posters itt are literally cops

literal lol