Editor's Blog1 min ago
Fun for Monday Evening. Use of the word "Literally"
19 Answers
This subject was on Radio 4 this morning, the wrong usage of the word "literally".
Examples include the "God of Literally-isms", Jamie Redknapp:
"That cross to Rooney was literally on a plate."
"Barca literally passed Arsenal to death."
"He had to cut back inside on to his left, because he literally hasn't got a right foot."
"Centre forwards have the ability to make time stand still. And when Chopra got the ball, it literally did just that."
"We know that the fans behind the goalpost haven't literally gone insane."
And it is just not Jamie,
"He walks into the room and he's literally like a hurricane." (Chantelle Houghton)
"Literally just a spot or two of rain." (BBC Weather)
"You were up against the Norwegians who are literally born on skis." (Kate Silverton on the BBC News)
"They literally will split the child in half to live one week with the mother and ..." Ulrika Johnsson on the Sweedish divorce system.
Even authors fall for the damned word:
"Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet" (James Joyce)
"the Gloria in Mozart's Twelfth Mass is the acme of first class music as such, literally knocking everything else into a cocked hat." (Joyce)
"I am literally disintegrating." (Salman Rushdie)
And, very recently, on Saturday, even the beloved Deputy Prime Minister has fallen foul of the word: "It makes people so incredibly angry when you are getting up early in the morning, working really hard to try and do the right thing for your family and for your community, you are paying your taxes and then you see people literally in a different galaxy who are paying extraordinarily low rates of tax."
I can't resist two more Jamie Redknapp examples:
"These balls now - they literally explode off your feet" and "He's literally left Ben Haim for dead there."
Over to you good folk for your experiences and examples.
Examples include the "God of Literally-isms", Jamie Redknapp:
"That cross to Rooney was literally on a plate."
"Barca literally passed Arsenal to death."
"He had to cut back inside on to his left, because he literally hasn't got a right foot."
"Centre forwards have the ability to make time stand still. And when Chopra got the ball, it literally did just that."
"We know that the fans behind the goalpost haven't literally gone insane."
And it is just not Jamie,
"He walks into the room and he's literally like a hurricane." (Chantelle Houghton)
"Literally just a spot or two of rain." (BBC Weather)
"You were up against the Norwegians who are literally born on skis." (Kate Silverton on the BBC News)
"They literally will split the child in half to live one week with the mother and ..." Ulrika Johnsson on the Sweedish divorce system.
Even authors fall for the damned word:
"Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet" (James Joyce)
"the Gloria in Mozart's Twelfth Mass is the acme of first class music as such, literally knocking everything else into a cocked hat." (Joyce)
"I am literally disintegrating." (Salman Rushdie)
And, very recently, on Saturday, even the beloved Deputy Prime Minister has fallen foul of the word: "It makes people so incredibly angry when you are getting up early in the morning, working really hard to try and do the right thing for your family and for your community, you are paying your taxes and then you see people literally in a different galaxy who are paying extraordinarily low rates of tax."
I can't resist two more Jamie Redknapp examples:
"These balls now - they literally explode off your feet" and "He's literally left Ben Haim for dead there."
Over to you good folk for your experiences and examples.
Answers
1 to 19 of 19
The OED gives:
c. colloq. Used to indicate that some (freq. conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).
The first example of of this usage that it gives is from 1769.
Ours is a living language, isn't it?
c. colloq. Used to indicate that some (freq. conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).
The first example of of this usage that it gives is from 1769.
Ours is a living language, isn't it?
1 to 19 of 19
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