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Wow. You know nothing about English. Dickens used "literally" in a figurative sense: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3007 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.
by cbd1984 12y ago
Wow. You know nothing about English. Dickens used "literally" in a figurative sense:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3007 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3007
Looks like you literally can't even read a dictionary:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally
> 2 : in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins>
It's fun to take illiterate pedants down a peg. Everyone should try it for themselves.
- FlailFast 12y agoOkay, so I came across a bit strong there, and I apologize for that. Yes, language is fluid, and meanings "flip polarity" all the time ("nonplussed" comes to mind). Yes, there is ample evidence that it was used to mean "with emphasis, but not in reality" for some time. I was wrong. I was attempting to make a glib remark without much consideration for facts...next time I'll endeavor to either keep my snide commentary to myself, or at least do a bit of fact checking. ...but in the mean time/back to the parent topic, people really should read Phillip K. Dick. He's a fantastic writer and visionary, and uses language far better than I can.
- irremediable 12y agoHaha, good on you for recognising where you came across badly and backing down. And yeah, I'm completely in agreement: PKD is amazing.