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Grammar Pet Peeves: What It Means When You Say "Literally"

First Posted: 01/21/11 04:19 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:25 PM ET

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The Oatmeal:

Literally means actually or without exaggeration.

When you say "I literally...," it means you're describing something exactly as it happened...

Read the whole story: The Oatmeal

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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Pennsanic
Be nice to the US or we'll bring you democracy too
1481 Fans
09:40 AM on 01/26/2011
That rainbow steamroller made me chuckle!
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
jl4141
Unless I'm wrong, I'm never wrong.
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12:44 PM on 01/25/2011
To quote (or paraphrase -- I'm not looking it up) Weird Al, "When I hear someone misuse the word 'literally,' it literally makes my head explode."
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Karl Richard
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09:39 PM on 01/24/2011
Most people are literally illiterate.

lol
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fran Jaime
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10:59 PM on 01/23/2011
The complete post was hilarious! I literally loved it!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
anastasiabeaverhousen
Time wounds all heels
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07:10 PM on 01/22/2011
There are people who don't know that?
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Tara Hunkoff
I could have been Sheila Noyeau
121 Fans
03:06 AM on 01/23/2011
Yes, literally thousands . . .
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french queen13
my beloved is mine and I am his
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04:54 AM on 01/24/2011
Yes, the sort of twits who say, "I literally died!"
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
joeblow
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02:00 PM on 01/22/2011
I read this and I literally yawned.
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c-tom
Badges we don't need no stinking badges
163 Fans
01:57 AM on 01/22/2011
Is misusing a word actually a mistake in grammar (the set of structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language) ?
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deepintheheartoftejas
Middle o/t Road = Yellow stripes & dead armadillos
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01:48 PM on 01/22/2011
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously!
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eric14
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05:44 PM on 01/21/2011
There comes a time, when the generation of objectors passes and in the new generations only the pedantic defend the old meanings. The destruction of meaning is countered by the construction of new meanings. However, the new meanings reflect the interests of the new generations so the sensibilities and discriminations of the old generation pass into history.

Evidence of this can be found in on-line dictionaries which provide in the first instance a list of synonyms. Synonyms to the undiscriminating new generations but to former folks they were shades of meaning.

Is there evidence of cultural decline in debased usage and the inability of many to give a half decent verbal account of what they see, what they do, how they feel? I do not know.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
eilish
Life ain't like a box of chocolates
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04:40 PM on 01/21/2011
I literally use this word too often and incorrectly.
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deepintheheartoftejas
Middle o/t Road = Yellow stripes & dead armadillos
232 Fans
05:38 PM on 01/21/2011
Don't worry. It's not actually incorrect when used in the sense of hyperbole, except in the most formal writing contexts. Alexander Pope in 1708: Every day with me is literally another yesterday for it is exactly the same. Or, Charles Dickens, a century later: "Lift him out," said Squeers, after he had literally feasted his eyes in silence upon the culprit.
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