22 December 2004 (Wednesday)
literally speaking
My head is going to explode.
Please, people, for the love of all that is good and right in the world, stop abusing this poor word. "Literally" means just that: by the word, by its strict definition, without any implied metaphor. When you say, "My heart was literally broken," (as I read in a New York Times article today) or, "I literally died laughing," you sound like an uneducated moron. Unless, of course, someone ripped your chest open and tore your heart to pieces, or you went into convulsions while giggling and passed away right there on the floor. Mmmmm? Yeah, didn't think so.
BS"D
HAHaha...you're so funny, Shanna - & so correct. This is one of Jole's & my pet peeves too :)
The usage has been around for a long time; Charles Dickens wrote about a character who "literally feasted his eyes in silence upon the culprit" in 1839, and W. M. Thackery wrote that he had "literally blazed with wit" in 1847, to quote the two earliest citations I know of. It's also been complained about at least since the OED included a usage note on the subject in 1903.
If you can get your hands on a copy of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, I commend their entry on the word to your attention; while I'm still not at all fond of the hyperbolic use of the word, and would certainly find it inappropriate in formal contexts, I found their historical overview and explanation to provide a useful perspective.
Oh please, Shmuel, stop confusing the issue with facts!
Seriously, though, thank you for bringing those things to my attention. I often have this internal conflict between the proper-usage part of my brain and the evolution-of-language part of my brain. It never hurts to add more fuel to the fire.
