Has anyone else noticed widespread abuse of the work "literal"?

Seriously? I’ve never heard it mis-used. Also, I would be very cranky if being very happy meant that I was suddenly literally walking on the moon. I would make sure I was very cranky all the time. I don’t need that instant death. Thanks anyway.

It literally drives me up the wall.

Yes, people are getting more lingually lazy as the day ago on. There’s no English Police correcting our communications. Then again, lazy language has lead to new words as well. Language is constantly evolving.

@dalepetrie: Is there a special car for that?

Yes. Many people have started using it as an intensifier. The culprits should be shot. Literally.

I use “literally” quite a bit, but always like dale and aidje just did.

@poofandmook – I literally think aidje means it, though.

@EmpressPixie – my spidercar with suction cup tires!

@dale: True… but that just proves his usage was correct :)

You mean like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMhBhKUQM9w

I think literally has literally replaced “like” on the scale of annoying, overused words. When I was growing up in the 80s, it was like everything was like you know you had to like use like for like everything you said. It was like, totally annoying, it literally made me want to like puke.

I’m one of those semi-“like“ers. I can’t help it. I’ve tried. I’ve curbed it, but that’s it.

I really think that some people don’t know what the word means. I am glad that I’m not the only one who gets irked. My husband is the worst offender, but he is somewhat sensitive about his language skills so I’m afraid I will hurt his feelings if I call him out. I have said a few times, well…. not “literally.” but I think I need to explain to him the meaning of the word “figuratively” in order for him to really get it. How to do that without sounding condescending is a challenge. He DID get all the math sense and all the mechanical sense for the whole family. He’s not stupid by any means. Just a bit language challenged.

Add “basically” to the list. These words either jump-start a sentence or give the speaker a second to think. Heaven forfend there should be a nano-second of silence. You know, awesome, cool, like, er, um. The list literally goes on forever. Try the antonyms. Salad is soggy and unfresh; I was figuratively over the moon.

I seem to remember an SNL or mad Tv sketch that dealt with the literally issue, but I cannot find it because there are literally thousands of hits on “literally snl sketch.” It seems like everyone has comments about how SNL literally made them laugh out loud or something.

found it here

Interestingly, I found a blog dedicated to the documenting of the improper use of the word literally.

There is a Vehix . com TV commercial in which a woman says you can ’literally take a test drive’ of a car online. Ummm, no. You can’t. Drives me crazy.

@Perchik: Look up ^^ at tekn0lust’s link. That’s probably the one you’re looking for.

I try to avoid using the word “literally” myself because the meaning becomes ambiguous if you’re talking about something that has questionable physical equivalents. I mean if someone says “That music was so loud I thought my ears were literally going to explode,” is that a proper use? There is no evidence to support that the speaker’s ears were not going to explode but neither was there any indication that they were. Also, does the word only refer to physical situations? Is the sentence “The music was so loud my ears literally exploded,” only correct if the speaker actually has two bloody holes where his/her ears used to be or is it correct if he/she experienced a period of reduced ability to hear afterward? Does the sentence “I was literally scarred for life,” only refer to physical injury or could a victim of some tragedy that left emotional scarring still use it? I agree that people use the word excessively, but I think that’s because few people actually know what the accepted use is.

I see and hear it all the time, but it’s nothing new. I’ve been aware of it for decades. In my opinion it’s absurd to use “literally” figuratively.

@aguust, yeah that’s the one. I typically disregard random unexplained links

Why don’t we start a trend and start replacing the word figuratively in places the population says literally? Can you see the head turns in conversations? “I was figuratively blown away!”

That would be the coolest thing ever, figuratively.~
j/k