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These kinds of arguments literally kill me.
by efdee 5y ago
These kinds of arguments literally kill me.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
- DwnVoteHoneyPot 5y agoSince we're discussing grammer, when you say "literally", you mean figuratively?
- remedan 5y agoThey are using the phrase "literally kill me" as a hyperbole. It is a form of exaggeration. They are not in fact being killed, they are just annoyed. It is a rhetorical device used for emphasis. The word "literally" has been commonly used for hyperbole in English for hundreds of years. There is nothing grammatically wrong here.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- staticassertion 5y agoThe hyperbolic use of "literally" to mean "figuratively" goes back hundreds of years. > : in effect : VIRTUALLY —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally They justify this in a few places, including > The "in effect; virtually" meaning of literally is not a new sense. It has been in regular use since the 18th century and may be found in the writings of Mark Twain, Charlotte Brontë, James Joyce, and many others. edit: HN was loading really weird for me, I didn't see the sibling comment make this point already!
- anchpop 5y agoGrammer conversations are the very pineapple of useless discourse, and I don't see why we don't nip them in the butt. Weather you say "literally" or "figuratively", both are equally understandable for all intensive purposes. So as far as I'm concerned these arguments serve no porpoise and we'd be better off if they faded into Bolivian.
- efdee 5y agoI certainly do. More so, I was referencing the fact that the definition of the word "literally" now also includes "figuratively" in several English dictionaries as an example of a similar language development.
- CRConrad 5y ago> Since we're discussing grammer Kelsey?
- ropable 5y agoThis comment needed a sarcasm tag (I think).