{"id":671,"date":"2013-10-01T00:11:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T14:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/?p=671"},"modified":"2013-10-01T00:11:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T14:11:45","slug":"literally-talking-about-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/literally-talking-about-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Literally Talking About \u2018Literally\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mean exactly that which is said, a way of putting an emphasis on something, an opportunity for hilarity.<\/p>\n

Literally is the opposite of figuratively, and is one of the most misused words in existence, so misused in fact that popular writers and authors have fumbled with it, mistaken for so long that The Oxford English Dictionary has included the false usage in its definition…<\/p>\n

Literally means exactly, without exaggeration, without any ounce of falsity. If I am to say that \u201cwhen people misuse this word, I literally pull my hair out,\u201d I in fact am pulling my hair out.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"pulling_hair_out\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The TV show \u2018Parks and Recreation\u2019s Chris Traeger uses the word often in humorous fashion, quotes include but are not limited to: \u201cI have a resting heart rate of 28 beats per minute. The doctors who studied me said that my heart could, literally, pump jet fuel up into a jet.\u201d or: \u201cLeslie Knope is literally overflowing with ideas for this town.\u201d \u201cThis was literally the most beautiful and moving thing I\u2019ve ever heard.<\/p>\n

While Chris Traeger is literally making fun of the all too often miscues, there are those out there, in the spotlight, that have mistakenly used it the wrong way without realization; take Joe Biden for example: \u201cThe American people who literally stood on the brink of a new depression,\u201d \u201cLiterally the finest warriors in the history of the world,\u201d \u201cliterally the first days that we took office\u00a0General Motors and Chrysler were\u00a0literally\u00a0on the verge of liquidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, what people should be using most of the time, is \u2018figuratively,\u2019 \u201cI\u2019m so hungry I could eat a horse, figuratively<\/b> speaking of course,\u201d much better than stating that you feel you could literally eat one if it were presented to you.<\/p>\n

\"eat-a-horse\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I know that you\u2019re all eagerly awaiting more examples of people using it in the wrong sense, so here you go:<\/p>\n

Kristin Stewart:<\/b> \u201cJust because of how I felt around him. I literally saw Jacob in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times:<\/b> \u201cClinton literally shocked his audience, by criticizing Mr. Obama and his campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Palin\u2019s spokeswoman:<\/b> \u201cThe world is literally her oyster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jerry Falwell:<\/b> \u201cIf you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Jessica Parker:<\/b> \u201cMy fatal flaw is that I have to be involved literally down to splitting atoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Clegg:<\/b> Tax avoiders are \u201cliterally in a different galaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Access Hollywood doctor:<\/b> \u201cWhen you take a look at Britney Spears and her behavior, it\u2019s very frightening. She is literally on a roller coaster to hell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can you think of any other famous fumbles with the word literally? Do you remember yourself ever using it the wrong way? Do you literally cringe when someone does this?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To mean exactly that which is said, a way of putting an emphasis on something, an opportunity…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}