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It can and is used with both opposite meanings. The same as how "literally" means both "literally" and "figuratively", depending on the context.
by jlawson 4y ago
It can and is used with both opposite meanings.
The same as how "literally" means both "literally" and "figuratively", depending on the context.
- dllthomas 4y ago> The same as how "literally" means both "literally" and "figuratively", depending on the context. I disagree with that analysis. It's true that "literally" is often used when the modified phrase is figurative, but that's not quite the same thing is it meaning "figuratively" - were we to remove the "literally" the utterance would not be more likely to be interpreted as literal. The role it's serving is as an intensifier, and I contend that it's a fairly ordinary example of hyperbole. In the same way, when someone says "you left me waiting for days" we don't say that sometimes days means a handful of minutes depending on context, but that sometimes people exaggerate. (And I recognize that at least one sufficiently respected dictionary disagrees with me; I think they got it wrong.)