CalvinJuárez.com

28 November 2008

Literally.

The word literally is oft used improperly; This is a problem that literally eats me up inside.  That last sentence is a great example of what I mean.  What does literally really mean?  

literally: /lĭ'·tər·ə·lē/ (liter + -al + -ly.  liter <= littera = Latin for “letter of the alphabet" or "epistle”; -al = a suffix indicating an adjective meaning "of or pertaining to"; -ly = a suffix indicating an adverb based on an adjective).  Translated word-for-word, then, the definition would be:

   "In a manner of or pertaining to letters; by the letter."

Roughly synonymous phrases may include "to the T", "word-for-word", "by the book", "I kid you not", and "not metaphorically or exaggeratedly".

What I'm trying to say is, Please, please, please! stop using literally as an intensifier!  It's not one.  If you say that something "literally eats me up inside", there'd better be something actually consuming some part of the interior of your body!  If not, then you have misused literally.  Literally.

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