ailsagirl
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Sat May-22-10 12:36 AM
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Is anyone else out there annoyed at the misuse of "literally?" |
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Edited on Sat May-22-10 12:37 AM by ailsagirl
I don't think some people understand that literally means just that-- but I'm coming across more and more instances of people misuing it. Recently heard:
"He literally oozed charm." "It literally scared me to death." "The walls have ears-- literally."
It makes me laugh but, at the same time, it annoys me that now dictionaries are beginning to OK the incorrect usage of the word. So many people say "Feb-you-ary" instead of "Feb-brew-ary" that now dictionaries are using the former as an alternate pronunciation.
The English language is certainly not static but I hate to see it so muddied up.
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Jim__
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Mon May-24-10 10:11 AM
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1. Well, those people are probably using "literally" in a metaphoric sense. |
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Edited on Mon May-24-10 10:11 AM by Jim__
:P
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SheilaT
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Sat May-29-10 12:03 PM
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of misuses. Lie and Lay come to mind as huge ones.
I joke that I don't normally support the death penalty, but I'd support it for certain grammatical errors.
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Odin2005
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Fri Jun-25-10 11:50 PM
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3. Google "Semantic Bleanching". |
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"literally" is evolving into a generalized emphatic adverb.
And "Febyooary" goes back a long way, it's not a new pronunciation. Lighten up.
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raccoon
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Wed Aug-25-10 08:10 AM
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4. It literallly makes me nauseous. LOL nt |
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