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> I think you need to learn what literally means. From MW: in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — N
by danellis 11y ago
> I think you need to learn what literally means.
From MW: in effect : virtually <will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins>
From Google: informal
used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
"I have received literally thousands of letters"
From dictionary.com: in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually:
I literally died when she walked out on stage in that costume.
- acheron 11y agoThese people are making language objectively worse and should not be encouraged.
- danellis 11y agoWho are "these people"? People documenting a word's meaning that has been in use for over a hundred years? That's their job.
- threeseed 11y agoBeing a bit disingenuous, no ? Literally has two definitions the first being the more correct as it is an extension of the word literal. The classical definition and the more recent definition (last few years). http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/literally http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/literal... As I articulated, in both definitions it is not like having an iPhone on your wrist.
- danellis 11y ago> Being a bit disingenuous, no ? Not at all. If you pay attention to how people actually use the language, the word has both meanings, so either is correct. Such is the fluid nature of language. If you can't appreciate that, then I think you're very nice (in the original sense of the word).
- cwyers 11y agoWell, it would be nice if on the whole the fluid nature of our language added rather than subtracted. Allowing literally to add emphasis rather than being a statement of literalism makes it no easier to add emphasis but much harder to state something is literal in the classical sense. You are right that language changes and evolves, but that doesn't mean we have to passively sit by and watch it get worse.
- danellis 11y agoThat it makes it worse is your opinion, though. If the prevailing opinion agreed with you, the additional meaning of the word would have been unsuccessful. Nobody is using it because they're forced to; they're using it because it feels right to them to do so.
- mcphage 11y agoI don't think I've ever heard 150+ years called "the last few years" before.
- mhb 11y agoOh. So you read it on the internet.
- kibibu 11y ago> informal used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true This type of definition is how you defeat evil AIs