You Literally Sound Stupid
Literally: a contemporary crutch word of the late aughts of the century or perhaps more so the 2010s (twenty-tens).
Some dictionary "trustees" are adding the “non-literal” version of literally to its offerings. Well-known names such as Merriam and Cambridge have followed in Google’s footsteps by including a meaning that goes something like “used to acknowledge that something isn’t literally true but is used for emphasis or to express a strong feeling.”
Have we literally broken the English language? According to Martha Gill we should avoid using the word for the moment. Her talking points include:
- Mucking about with its meaning isn't clever or inventive any more
- To use it is to teeter on the edge of a conversational wormhole
- So there really is not much we can do with the word "literally", other than avoid it completely. At the moment it is irredeemable. It is a moot word.
Your speech literally becomes less effective, as it is literally lost in the usage of tautological repetitive diction. Many basics literally claim that using, “literally” literally strengthens their sentence because it literally puts an extra emphasis on what they are literally saying "literally" happened. Literally.
"It should not be used as a synonym for actually or really," writes Paul Brians in "Common Errors in English Usage." He also states, "Don’t say of someone that he "literally blew up" unless he swallows a stick of dynamite."
"My impression is that many people don't have any idea of what 'literally' means — or used to mean," Boston University psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason told the Boston Globe. "So they say things like 'He was literally insane with jealousy.' If in response, you asked them if this person had been institutionalized, they'd look at you as if you were the crazy one."
The grass is literally greener on the other side of the fence.
The fact that Charles Dickens used literally in a figurative sense ("'Lift him out,' said Squeers, after he had literally feasted his eyes, in silence, upon the culprit") doesn't justify altering the definition or contemporary overuse of the word. For example, you wouldn't find the word "literally" a dozen times on each page of his composition. Consider how often you hear the typical millennial use the word in ordinary conversation.
omg-like-literally - express yourself with the poise, intelligence, and brevity of a typical millennial San Fernando Valley girl.
The irritation is two part, 1) the word often use incorrectly, and 2) the word is used too often without regards to correctness.
echo literally > /dev/null
Start a new trend, make people aware and help them to stop overusing this adverb. In fact, the English language would survive very well with this word entirely eliminated.
Patrick@BAP1129 9 May 13 I wouldn't mind if the word "literally" disappeared from the English language. #literallyoverused
Dave Burnett@GDaveB 17 Aug 18 THE CAMPAIGN TO STOP OVERUSE OF THE WORD "LITERALLY" #LiterallyOverused
Tim Racho@timracho 24 May 16 Please stop saying "literally". #thankyou #stopsayingliterally #literally #clutchwords
🥰💕❤️🌸 #Day6GravityinDallas D-3@romo_valeria 17 May 15 It's true lol XD #literallyoverused pic.twitter.com/vEsQRwSCVl
Rob Graham@ErrataRob 9 Jun 13 Clapper saying "literally gut wrenching" enrages the writing pedant in me #STOPsayingLITERALLY
Becca@radtattooedmom Mar 28 Someone in the breakroom said “literally” 6 times in her short conversation. 6 times!! I literally can’t make this up. 😂 #stopsayingliterally
Actually you could Becca, so you are also using this adverb incorrectly.
Rick Sadowski@RickS7 4 Nov 17 There is not a more overused and incorrectly used word as “literally.” It’s driving me crazy — but not literally! Yet. #stopsayingliterally
Craig Bourm@mruob928 20 Apr 17 @HiMyNameIsSeton I think you mean figuratively not literally. You say it a lot. Literally, I mean. #stopsayingliterally
Anakin's Lightsaber@skywalker_saber 21 Apr 18 I took a minute and went through my past tweets and saw that I used the word "literally' in 5 posts. That's 5 posts too many. I sincerely apologize. #StopSayingLiterally #IDoNotThinkItMeansWhatYouThinkItMeans
Chelsea Smith@Chelmsmith 12 Feb 15 Does anyone know what literally means? #stopsayingliterally
Matthew Burgess@MatthewtBurgess 7 Apr 15 Overheard in hospital: “I’m literally up to my neck in patients.” No. No you’re not. #stopsayingliterally
Stephen Pallotta@stephenpallotta 20 Mar 13 Even my professors abuse the word literally #stopsayingliterally
Melanie McGovern@mjmcgovern12 15 Apr 15 Did they say "literally" in the 80s? #stopsayingliterally #TheGoldbergs
Answer: No, at least not to such an extent as that asinine and anachronistic television program suggests.
AJ@sarahbellum22 4 Mar 13 I feel bad for literally. It is literally abused by millions of people with literally small vocabularies. #literally #stopsayingliterally
Gloria R 🌯🌮🥙🍚@ger1771 19 Sep 11 If you say, "I literally fell out of my chair" and you didn't then I'm gonna push you out of your chair. #stopsayingliterally
I probably couldn't have said it better myself.
Mark Prommel@markprommel Jun 8 Please stop saying "literally." It doesn't make people take your point more seriously. #stopsayingliterally
Kate Byrne@katemac35 25 May 12 how do i stop myself from baking when there is virtually NOTHING ELSE TO DO? #correctuseofvirtually #stopsayingliterally #goinginsane
jay hdez@xTRANSMISIONESx 18 Dec 17 Make similes and metaphors great again 2018 🇺🇸 #stopsayingliterally #webelieveyou #literary
I am going to visit cafepress and have hats made that display: Make Metaphores Great Again... "stop saying literally!"
Amber Gainey Meade@gaineymeade 22 Jun 15 Stop saying literally. Stop it. Particularly if what you really mean is "figuratively." Just stop. No more. #literally #StopSayingLiterally
1ExpensivePieceOfPpr@Michelle_UVic 29 Jan 15 PSA: Please stop the over (and incorrect use of literally) you are figuratively driving this English major crazy! #uvic #stopsayingliterally
Hyper Vigilance@AndyRooneyTwin 30 Jan 18 The word "Literally" is the most overused word in the English language. I hear it so much that it has begun to lose all meaning. Please everyone, #stopsayingliterally. slimkid36.wixsite.com/imjustsaying @BaldBryan @Jokoy @selfamused @Iovelywords pic.twitter.com/5Qw2ogDHJI
Lena@lenamorsch Sep 14 I wish everyone would quit using the word "literally" in every other sentence these days, or at least understand its meaning when using it! It needed to be said! #Literally pic.twitter.com/iMFXsxiqnL
Multiverse Queen@MultivursQueen 21 Jan 12 Let's (incl. me) revolutionize the come back of proper grammar & reduce usage of "literally" to its original intent. #literallyoverused
E-Diggity@ETRAIN57 22 Oct 13 Literally, #ithink people literally use the word "literally", like, #literally too much #literallyoverused #likeliterally
Alessandra@mrsmintmav 11 Jul 12 Guy on This Morning just said 'People are literally dying...' don't think the word 'literally' is needed in that sentence #literallyoverused
Elliot Whitter@elliotwhitter1 27 Apr 18 Replying to @astro_milf @mvutant @chancetherapper Curious what policies you're referring to that would "literally" kill people in any city, let alone Chicago? You know literally means directly as in he or his policy you're referring to would be the cause of death? Maybe you meant 'essentially' or "virtually?" #LiterallyOverused
Lisa Pizza 💙@LisaCeeDee 29 Apr 16 I think I'm gonna start a trend where I use "figuratively" when something is actually literal. Just to be annoying. #StopUsingLiterally
Josh@Dorkfi5h 4 Aug 14 Replying to @JohnnyFeisty @margitan @JohnnyFeisty @margitan I literally hate the new definition of literally. #literallyisliterally
Hollywood and television producers attempt to influence culture and social interaction by the introduction of subtle or perhaps subliminal words and messages in media. Consider the television programs "Parks and Recreation" and "The Goldbergs" introducing with great force the indulgence of "literally" a number of times per episode, the common pop culture consumer can't help but to become brainwashed and parrot the popular patois.
Merriam-Webster added a second usage of the word "literally" to mean "virtually," but added the disclaimer that "Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary."
In the next decade millennials and the following coming of age generation will likely misuse the word "hot" when describing something that is actually cold, such as ice. Following the most logical (to them) course of action diligent liberal compassionate and understanding authors and editors of Merriam-Webster will include the new opposite definition. Perhaps in a couple following decades all words will have blended with no clear and definite definition. In conversation no one will have any actual idea of the information attempting to be conveyed. Following that mankind will regress into a dialect of grunting and hooting completely doing away with all of the pesky words that make up language. Society will communicate in the proto-language of Australopithecus thus simplifying education and everything else that requires effort in education.
