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"Literally" is not incorrect. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally "Literally" can mean "vi

"Literally" is not incorrect. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally "Literally" can mean "virtually," or "figuratively."

tertius 11y ago
Yes and this is unfortunate but modern.
- baddox 11y ago
  Define "modern." It has been in common use for at least two centuries.
- nsns 11y ago
  Only if you'd assume the fallacy that an enunciation could ever be "literal" in its meaning. I'd argue this actually points at a structural undecidability which is essential to language.
dudul 11y ago
From your link: "Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary." Seems literally incorrect to me.
pklausler 11y ago
We need a new word that non-figuratively means "literally", then.
- phpnode 11y ago
  I propose "figuratively".
- pklausler 11y ago
  Sorry to reply to my own post. It bothered me that I literally knew no good substitute in English for "literally". Did some research, and the best that I found is the phrase "without exaggeration", which actually seems usable to me and might be more likely to be understood than "literally" is today. "I got literally hundreds of bug reports today" may not be appreciated correctly (a listener who doesn't know me might think that I got 12 and I'm just whining), but "Speaking without exaggeration, I got hundreds of bug reports today" seems airtight. Or maybe it's time to import >>wörtlich<< into English.
- derefr 11y ago
  You don't need to throw out a word just because it's become an autoantonym[1]; many words are. To cleave; to hew; to screen; etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym
  - pklausler 11y ago
    My favorite: "oversight".
nsns 11y ago
nice, so it literally means its opposite as well.
- massysett 11y ago
  This sort of usage destroys the entire word. If one word has two opposing meanings it's ambiguous to ever use it at all. Language rot via imprecision.

"Literally" is not incorrect. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally "Literally" can mean "virtually," or "figuratively."

tertius 11y ago

Yes and this is unfortunate but modern.

baddox 11y ago
Define "modern." It has been in common use for at least two centuries.
nsns 11y ago
Only if you'd assume the fallacy that an enunciation could ever be "literal" in its meaning. I'd argue this actually points at a structural undecidability which is essential to language.

dudul 11y ago

From your link: "Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary." Seems literally incorrect to me.

pklausler 11y ago

We need a new word that non-figuratively means "literally", then.

phpnode 11y ago
I propose "figuratively".
pklausler 11y ago
Sorry to reply to my own post. It bothered me that I literally knew no good substitute in English for "literally". Did some research, and the best that I found is the phrase "without exaggeration", which actually seems usable to me and might be more likely to be understood than "literally" is today. "I got literally hundreds of bug reports today" may not be appreciated correctly (a listener who doesn't know me might think that I got 12 and I'm just whining), but "Speaking without exaggeration, I got hundreds of bug reports today" seems airtight. Or maybe it's time to import >>wörtlich<< into English.
derefr 11y ago
You don't need to throw out a word just because it's become an autoantonym[1]; many words are. To cleave; to hew; to screen; etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym
- pklausler 11y ago
  My favorite: "oversight".

nsns 11y ago

nice, so it literally means its opposite as well.

massysett 11y ago
This sort of usage destroys the entire word. If one word has two opposing meanings it's ambiguous to ever use it at all. Language rot via imprecision.