Like most of us, language evolves. Some bits endure, others become anachronisms before fading to nothing. Sad but inevitable. I don’t particularly feel like some guardian of words – I’ve even stopped telling angry cricketers that they scored fewer runs this season, not less. Such pedantry draws at best a groan, at worst a left hook.But when did people become so flippant with ‘literally’? When did it become a means of expressing emphasis?
Recently, I’ve heard:
I literally thought my head was going to explode. Possible, I suppose.
As politicians we must literally put our money where our mouth is. Not a bad idea actually.
You just missed her; she literally left a second ago. No she didn’t; I’ve been here for at least seven.
And my favourite: This match is literally on a knife edge.
Win a Book draw on Saturday.
5 comments:
Very interesting, figuratively speaking.
The best ones are when people use 'literally' incorrectly, use a cliche and then get it confused with something else - all in one sentence... I was in a meeting when someone said 'I literally wouldn't touch him with a very sharp stick!'
?
Let's see if this link works:
http://xkcd.com/725/
Ha. Some good ones there.
I know someone who has a very endearing habit of saying touchée when they make a good point in an argument.
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