"Literally" should only ever mean "literally"

[vtk]

I've heard some dictionaries are beginning to add an alternate definition of "literally", which is essentially "not literally", and this is supposed to be acceptable usage. This is literally the most stupid development of the English language I've ever heard of.

[Duke87]

*shrug* Language changes over time. The meaning of words will shift. Get used to it, it's already been happening for thousands of years and isn't going to stop just because people are compulsive about establishing standards.

If this means "literally" becomes a word that can be used to place emphasis on an exaggeration, so be it. The dictionary isn't a rule book which needs to be enforced. It's documentation of what people are doing when they speak and write.

Or, as the saying goes, "usage is the final arbiter".

[Thing 342]

Yes, but it's rare that a word essentially becomes the exact opposite of its meaning in so little time.

[Pete from Boston]

This is mostly an issue with 15-year-olds (no offense to the 15-year-olds reading).  It's so stupid that it doesn't bother me anymore than anything else stupid people do, because it's mostly their loss.

[Laura]

[vtk]

I get that language evolves. But is there another word that means literally literally and not figuratively literally?  Because we need a word to emphasize that a statement is not an exaggeration.  If we let literally mean figuratively then there's no way to actually say literally anymore.

[wxfree]

we need a word to emphasize that a statement is not an exaggeration.

The younger people don't need such a word; they don't speak without exaggeration.  Just about everything is either unbelievably boring or "epic."  Something that's even moderately interesting is "so epic."  Through my life we've increasingly been reaching for ever-stronger words.  When I was a child, anything not completely worthless was "awesome."  I always thought that was stupid, but it only got worse.  Now every little thing that happens is equivalent to a great story about a heroic legendary figure and his deeds. 

Not using "literally" as an amplifier means the overstimulating description has no similarity at all to reality.  "Literally" seems to mean "several levels of excitement below what this word actually means."  In a sense, the word still kinda means the same thing, distinguishing between a completely false description and one that's similar to reality but overdescribed.

[vdeane]

If literally means both literally and not literally, does that mean the dictionary was literally written by a goat?

[Pete from Boston]

It means that adults need to literally behave like adults and use the education society went through all that trouble to give them and use the language properly* instead of calling every misuse "linguistic evolution" like they're paving the way to a brilliant new future.

* Yes, I know this is a run-on sentence. 

[Brandon]

If literally means both literally and not literally, does that mean the dictionary was literally written by a goat?

At least the Alanland Dictionary, which may or may not be an authority on the subject.

[Duke87]

I get that language evolves. But is there another word that means literally literally and not figuratively literally?  Because we need a word to emphasize that a statement is not an exaggeration.  If we let literally mean figuratively then there's no way to actually say literally anymore.

There is, but it becomes context and tone dependent. Note how it is fairly easy to tell when someone says "literally" whether they actually mean it, er, literally, or whether they are exaggerating.

Really if you think about it the key difference between the two definitions is that one is someone being serious and the other is someone being facetious. You can already invert the meaning of any word or phrase by using it sarcastically, so what's different here?


For a colloquial example, take the term "fuckin' A". When this term was used in the 70s it meant that something was really good. But it would then sometimes be used sarcastically in events where something was decidedly not really good. A few decades later the idea of using it to describe something good seems somewhat strange and the more commonly accepted meaning is that something sucks or is ridiculous.

[SteveG1988]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally

[agentsteel53]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally

I want my gay steamroller.  where do I buy one?

[roadman65]

Literally you have to be literal on this forum. 

However do we actually drive on driveways and do we park on parkways?  Are freeways really free?  I mean not the tolls but considering we have to first buy a car to drive on them, and then come up with the gas to fill our car's tanks.

[Pete from Boston]

Literally you have to be literal on this forum. 

However do we actually drive on driveways and do we park on parkways?  Are freeways really free?  I mean not the tolls but considering we have to first buy a car to drive on them, and then come up with the gas to fill our car's tanks.

None of those are issues of literal vs. figurative. 

[1995hoo]

Literally you have to be literal on this forum. 

However do we actually drive on driveways and do we park on parkways?  Are freeways really free?  I mean not the tolls but considering we have to first buy a car to drive on them, and then come up with the gas to fill our car's tanks.

I drive on my driveway. It's how I get the car into and out of the garage.

[agentsteel53]

I drive on my driveway. It's how I get the car into and out of the garage.

I've parked on the parkway.  was necessary to compose a particular shot.

[roadman65]

i have driven free on a freeway in someone else's car.

[agentsteel53]

i have driven free on a freeway in someone else's car.

there is still opportunity cost to be considered.  you may have done any number of other things with that segment of your life.

[vtk]

Let's say a toddler eats a lego brick, and eventually it comes out the other end.  The parents might say "My son literally shit a brick today."  But if literally can mean not literally, then it becomes more cumbersome to explain that a brick actually emerged from the child's anus.

This is the kind of extraordinary situation where the word literally is necessary in the first place, and giving the word an opposite meaning completely defeats this use case.

[formulanone]

Maybe if people didn't exaggerate so much, or if we didn't have homographs, then we literally wouldn't need the word "literally".

I guess there's always going to be exceptions, but I notice people get addicted to over-emphasis, for which the phrase "x literally y" lends a little more gravitas to the conversation.

[vdeane]

Literally you have to be literal on this forum. 

However do we actually drive on driveways and do we park on parkways?  Are freeways really free?  I mean not the tolls but considering we have to first buy a car to drive on them, and then come up with the gas to fill our car's tanks.

Free as in freedom, not as in free beer.  Park as in recreation.

[english si]

"Literally" will literally always mean "literally". That's as sure as eggs is eggs!

Unless we go all German and have capitalised common nouns - in which case the capital letter in "Literally" might mean something different to "literally", depending on where in the sentence it was.

[Laura]

Literally you have to be literal on this forum. 

However do we actually drive on driveways and do we park on parkways?  Are freeways really free?  I mean not the tolls but considering we have to first buy a car to drive on them, and then come up with the gas to fill our car's tanks.

Free as in freedom, not as in free beer.  Park as in recreation.

Free as in libre, not in gratis

Also, speaking of Parks and Rec... *points to previous post* ...I blame Chris Traeger for this phenomenon.


iPhone

[triplemultiplex]

As a fisherman, I prefer being literally littoral whenever I can.