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"...the US financial system was literally melting down." Really? The financial system was becoming a pool of molten goo, possibly spreading radiation all over

"...the US financial system was literally melting down." Really? The financial system was becoming a pool of molten goo, possibly spreading radiation all over its vacinity?

kposehn 14y ago
> The financial system was becoming a pool of molten goo, possibly spreading radiation all over its vicinity? Metaphorically, I'd say that was fairly accurate if you consider the molten goo to be defaults and the radiation to be bank malaise and bad assets; it also managed to start the same reaction in the EU, which continues to this day.
StevenRayOrr 14y ago
Even intelligent people that know the meaning of the word will make this mistake when writing casually. The English language would be much better off if we removed the word "literally" from it. Or, I suppose, if we all just decided to accept that "literally" now means "metaphorically". In which case, please kill me.
- SomeCallMeTim 14y ago
  If it's a "mistake", then it's one that has been made for 300 years: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2005/11/the_word_we_love_to_hate.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2005/11/the... Relevant excerpt: 'As is often the case, though, such "abuses" have a long and esteemed history in English. The ground was not especially sticky in Little Women when Louisa May Alcott wrote that "the land literally flowed with milk and honey," nor was Tom Sawyer turning somersaults on piles of money when Twain described him as "literally rolling in wealth," [...more...] Such examples are easily come by, even in the works of the authors we are often told to emulate.' Given the caliber of authors that have used "literally" for emphasis, I have a hard time standing behind the concept that it's even poor style. We can decide that, moving forward, we'd like to clean up English and use "literally" differently, but calling it a mistake rather than a offense to modern style is inaccurate. REGARDLESS, I thought this was exactly the kind of thread that Hacker News hated. :|
- giblfiz 14y ago
  do you literally want me to kill you now?
- pyre 14y ago
  "...the US financial system was literally melting down." is probably better written as: "...the US financial system was seriously melting down." Adding literally is an attempt to make the statement stronger than just: "...the US financial system was melting down."
- lifeisstillgood 14y ago
  Literally kill you?
giblfiz 14y ago
Definition of LITERALLY 1: in a literal sense or manner : actually <took the remark literally> <was literally insane> 2: in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally
- StevenRayOrr 14y ago
  Definition of VIRTUALLY 1: almost entirely : nearly 2: for all practical purposes <virtually unknown> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtually http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtually
- tedsuo 14y ago
  That's really funny, I didn't realize the hyperbolic use had become official at some point.
  - joshuahedlund 14y ago
    Me either. Just part of the long trend of diluting intense words and chasing after new ones I guess (see: awesome, incredible, epic, etc). Kinda wonder where the language will go next.. doubleplusgood?
  - rmc 14y ago
    Nothing is official. English, unlike other languages, does not have an official governing body. There is no official One True English Language.
  - Daniel_Newby 14y ago
    It didn't. The dictionary is literally lying.
dalton 14y ago
I think it's awesome that you just created a new hn account to leave this comment.
- foobooboo 14y ago
  Why thank you, I've been lurking around for quite a while, but this did it.
- moron 14y ago
  I don't!
  - bugmenot 14y ago
    Moron.
mdemare 14y ago
I see this usage of "literally" more as a dereference, or an unquote. I mean, it takes a dead metaphor and tries to bring it back to live. It means "hey, pay attention to this metaphor!" If you'd say, "the financial system was melting down", that is such a stale metaphor that it might not even trigger any associations with nuclear reactors. "Literally" forces you to stop and think about molten goo and radiation. And as such, I approve of it (although it is much preferred to use fresh metaphors than to resurrect stale ones.)
pbreit 14y ago
lit·er·al·ly/ˈlitərəlē/ Adverb: 1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle". 2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.
clebio 14y ago
So, yeah, while misuse of literally literally bugs the shit out of me a lot, I'm fairly tossed up about whether it's worth bugging out over. The recent surfacing of the 'poisonous/venomous' distinction smacks of pop-culture faddism and as such, is just dull and tedious. Academics, scientists, and engineers generally understand these details (indeed, Dalton Caldwell almost certainly _does_ know the distinction, being as he was, I gather, a 'Founder/CEO of a Sequoia portfolio company'). Complicated, careful work (in nuclear physics or space launches, for instance) generally depends on this, no doubt. But outside those domains -- in a personal blog, for instance, or when noodling catfish in the bayou, say -- splitting infinitives might be ok, or even a shibboleth. See Dave Chappelle's analysis on Inside The Actors Studio regarding speaking as a black American. And, while I don't care to hurtle ad-hominems ad-hoc, if you _are_ going to be pedantic about the minutiae of someone else's considered work, it's possibly worth knowing that the word is 'vicinity'.
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  For some reason this is one of the hardest to read comments I've ever encountered on the internet.
  - clebio 14y ago
    I'm vaguely aware that my writing style is somewhat dense. I try to work on that, I really do. Still, I consider yours a sort of compliment -- an obscure achievement.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]

"...the US financial system was literally melting down." Really? The financial system was becoming a pool of molten goo, possibly spreading radiation all over its vacinity?

kposehn 14y ago

> The financial system was becoming a pool of molten goo, possibly spreading radiation all over its vicinity? Metaphorically, I'd say that was fairly accurate if you consider the molten goo to be defaults and the radiation to be bank malaise and bad assets; it also managed to start the same reaction in the EU, which continues to this day.

StevenRayOrr 14y ago

Even intelligent people that know the meaning of the word will make this mistake when writing casually. The English language would be much better off if we removed the word "literally" from it. Or, I suppose, if we all just decided to accept that "literally" now means "metaphorically". In which case, please kill me.

SomeCallMeTim 14y ago
If it's a "mistake", then it's one that has been made for 300 years: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2005/11/the_word_we_love_to_hate.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2005/11/the... Relevant excerpt: 'As is often the case, though, such "abuses" have a long and esteemed history in English. The ground was not especially sticky in Little Women when Louisa May Alcott wrote that "the land literally flowed with milk and honey," nor was Tom Sawyer turning somersaults on piles of money when Twain described him as "literally rolling in wealth," [...more...] Such examples are easily come by, even in the works of the authors we are often told to emulate.' Given the caliber of authors that have used "literally" for emphasis, I have a hard time standing behind the concept that it's even poor style. We can decide that, moving forward, we'd like to clean up English and use "literally" differently, but calling it a mistake rather than a offense to modern style is inaccurate. REGARDLESS, I thought this was exactly the kind of thread that Hacker News hated. :|
giblfiz 14y ago
do you literally want me to kill you now?
pyre 14y ago
"...the US financial system was literally melting down." is probably better written as: "...the US financial system was seriously melting down." Adding literally is an attempt to make the statement stronger than just: "...the US financial system was melting down."
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
Literally kill you?

giblfiz 14y ago

Definition of LITERALLY 1: in a literal sense or manner : actually <took the remark literally> <was literally insane> 2: in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

StevenRayOrr 14y ago
Definition of VIRTUALLY 1: almost entirely : nearly 2: for all practical purposes <virtually unknown> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtually http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtually
tedsuo 14y ago
That's really funny, I didn't realize the hyperbolic use had become official at some point.
- joshuahedlund 14y ago
  Me either. Just part of the long trend of diluting intense words and chasing after new ones I guess (see: awesome, incredible, epic, etc). Kinda wonder where the language will go next.. doubleplusgood?
- rmc 14y ago
  Nothing is official. English, unlike other languages, does not have an official governing body. There is no official One True English Language.
- Daniel_Newby 14y ago
  It didn't. The dictionary is literally lying.

dalton 14y ago

I think it's awesome that you just created a new hn account to leave this comment.

foobooboo 14y ago
Why thank you, I've been lurking around for quite a while, but this did it.
moron 14y ago
I don't!
- bugmenot 14y ago
  Moron.

mdemare 14y ago

I see this usage of "literally" more as a dereference, or an unquote. I mean, it takes a dead metaphor and tries to bring it back to live. It means "hey, pay attention to this metaphor!" If you'd say, "the financial system was melting down", that is such a stale metaphor that it might not even trigger any associations with nuclear reactors. "Literally" forces you to stop and think about molten goo and radiation. And as such, I approve of it (although it is much preferred to use fresh metaphors than to resurrect stale ones.)

pbreit 14y ago

lit·er·al·ly/ˈlitərəlē/ Adverb: 1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle". 2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.

clebio 14y ago

So, yeah, while misuse of literally literally bugs the shit out of me a lot, I'm fairly tossed up about whether it's worth bugging out over. The recent surfacing of the 'poisonous/venomous' distinction smacks of pop-culture faddism and as such, is just dull and tedious. Academics, scientists, and engineers generally understand these details (indeed, Dalton Caldwell almost certainly _does_ know the distinction, being as he was, I gather, a 'Founder/CEO of a Sequoia portfolio company'). Complicated, careful work (in nuclear physics or space launches, for instance) generally depends on this, no doubt. But outside those domains -- in a personal blog, for instance, or when noodling catfish in the bayou, say -- splitting infinitives might be ok, or even a shibboleth. See Dave Chappelle's analysis on Inside The Actors Studio regarding speaking as a black American. And, while I don't care to hurtle ad-hominems ad-hoc, if you _are_ going to be pedantic about the minutiae of someone else's considered work, it's possibly worth knowing that the word is 'vicinity'.

ricardobeat 14y ago
For some reason this is one of the hardest to read comments I've ever encountered on the internet.
- clebio 14y ago
  I'm vaguely aware that my writing style is somewhat dense. I try to work on that, I really do. Still, I consider yours a sort of compliment -- an obscure achievement.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]