Tuesday 24 January, 2006

Please use literally literally

Filed under: General

I've noticed it on the odd occasion in the UK, but it's prevalent in New York: that is the misuse of the word literally. Usually, when you hear it, you can safely interpret the exact opposite. Apparently, such usage is known as a "general intensive".

I heard two such examples on the local news. The latter is beautiful.

- A passenger literally went nuts while on board a plane
- A truck that blew over on a bridge, threatening to drop into the waters below, was "literally hanging on by its fingertips".


Posted by dan at 1:09pm | Permalink | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)
Comments

the same works, of course, for when people start a sentence with "honestly", "to be fair", "frankly" and so on. what they really mean is quite the opposite. i have only empirical evidence for this - do you think you could spreadsheet it?

p.s. like your fact/fiction book. wish i could implement stuff that clever.

Posted by alan, 5:52am, Wednesday 1 February 2006

I've always liked "With all due respect", actually meaning "With no respect for you whatsoever, you low-life!"

I don't care if you like the fact/fiction book, as long as you buy some - that way I get a cut of the cost ;)

Posted by Dan 6:04am, Wednesday 1 February 2006

And here's a site literally dedicated to the topic of this post:

http://literally.barelyfitz.com/

Posted by Dan 12:52pm, Tuesday 14 February 2006
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