I hate it when people misuse "literally"

[SociallyChallenged]

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This just really irritates me when people use words this bad.
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wow, that's a really bad word.

oh wait, you didn't mean "use words this bad" after all, did you??

Shouldn't it be "This really irritates me when people use words this badLY



-Brent

Sorry, but I had to.

 

[rh71]

You forgot a comma after "be", the end quote, and the question mark.

- B.A. Communication

 

Gosh! I didn't know that it was still such an issue. I thought that most people who knew what it meant.

"In the third paragraph, the guy says 'So while the one customer is stealing bandwidth from me is running very fast, all of the other customers are running very slow so they are literally taking money and product out of my other customers pockets.'"

Agreed. It is such a misuse of the word, for it was not literally taken.

However, I have a question for you: Why do you hold this man to such standard when his entire set of sentences are extremely poor in grammar structure? It seems clear to me that this person is not a well-learned person in writing. So, why would you hold him to a standard above him? I mean, we should start with the basic, such as the following fragment of his statement: "so while the one customer is stealing bandwidth from me is running very fast. . . ."

What sense does that fragment make? Or was it simply a typo? I doubt it was a typo, 'cuz the other fragment makes no sense either. Besides, it's a run-on sentence. I doubt I would pick on "literally" as much as I would with understanding the message the person is trying to convey.

 

[Jerboy]

Eye hait it wen peepol dont whipe ther arse proporly and go's abuot ther dais, becoz they smeil like poopie.

 

Sorry to break it to you, Apoppin, but if you do carefully read the usage in the tect you have provided us from the Merriam Webster dictionary, you will note that it states that usage of the word in as an intensive before a figurative expression has been immensely criticised. Thus, it seems to me that its use in that sense of the word is simply not the "proper" way but what is informally accepted.

Maybe the Oxford English Dictionary will serve us better here.

Edit: Okay, here's what the Oxford English Dictionary says regarding this: "[3] b Used to indicate that the following word or phrase must be taken in its literal sense. Now often improperly used to indicate that some conventional metaphorical or hyperbolical phrase is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense. (So, e.g., in quot. 1863.)

1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 107 My daily bread is litt'rally implor'd. 1708 Pope Let. to H. Cromwell 18 Mar., Euery day with me is literally another yesterday for it is exactly the same. 1761-2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxxi. 341 He had the singular fate of dying literally of hunger. 1769 Junius Lett. xxx. 137 What punishment has he suffered? Literally none. 1839 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. vii. 100 At the last I was incapable of correcting the proofs, literally fainting on the ground. 1863 Fr. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 105 For the last four years..I literally coined money. 1887 I. R. Lady's Ranche Life Montana 76 The air is literally scented with them all.1902 Daily Chron. 10 Dec. 7/2 A contemporary states that Kubelik has been `literally coining money' in England. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 15 Nov. 2/1 Mr. Chamberlain literally bubbled over with gratitude. 1922 R. Macaulay Mystery at Geneva xiv. 72 The things `they' say! They even say..that `literally' bears the same meaning as `metaphorically' (`she was literally a mother to him,' they will say). 1960 V. Nabokov Invitation to Beheading iii. 31 And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell. 1973 Good Food Guide 176 `Crabs and lobsters are literally to be found crawling round the floor waiting for an order,' reports an early nominator."

 

[silverpig]

<<I hate it when people misuse "literally">>

<<Do you really mean "hate" - literally or are you speaking figuratively?

So - again - do you HATE people who misuse "literally", literally or are you speaking figuratively?>>


You sure chewed up his sentence. He said: "I hate IT when..." and not "I hate people who..."


And sure, I see how he could feel some animosity to an apparent misusage of a word.

 

[silverpig]

I just read luvly's post. Perhaps my usage of the word apparent was premature.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: silverpig
<<I hate it when people misuse "literally">>

<<Do you really mean "hate" - literally or are you speaking figuratively?

So - again - do you HATE people who misuse "literally", literally or are you speaking figuratively?>>


You sure chewed up his sentence. He said: "I hate IT when..." and not "I hate people who..."


And sure, I see how he could feel some animosity to an apparent misusage of a word.

First of al,l screw (figuratively) the Oxford Dictionary. I like a good American one. And there is something to be said for "common usage".

Secondly, my first comment was:

Do you really mean "hate" - literally or are you speaking figuratively?

Thirdly, in my second comment - since I was being ignored - I merely asked for clarification; whether he hated "it" or hated "people" who use improper grammar. I wasn't sure if he was referring to "it" literally or applying it figuratively to people who use "it" literally.



EDIT: And finally, I don't have to "chew up" his sentences. He does a superb job without any outside help.

 

[Nefrodite]

oops. u mean like "totally" ?

 

[littlegohan]

'So while the one customer is stealing bandwidth from me is running very fast, all of the other customers are running very slow so they are literally taking money and product out of my other customers pockets.'"

The corrected version for this should be

"One customer who is running very fast is stealing bandwidth from me and causing my other customers to run(? poor diction) very slowly. That customer is literally taking money out of my other customers' pockets.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
oops. u mean like "totally" ?

Yes, totally . . . awesome succinctness, dude!

 

[p0ntif]

Some people just need to learn how to communicate gooder. It's society's fault. Literally.

 

[HombrePequeno]

This is the sort of impertinence up with which I will not put.

Long live the English language!

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Quote

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This just really irritates me when people use words this bad.
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wow, that's a really bad word.

oh wait, you didn't mean "use words this bad" after all, did you??

Shouldn't it be "This really irritates me when people use words this badLY



-Brent

Sorry, but I had to.

Actually, he was implying that the word itself was bad, not USE of the word was bad. If so, then you would be right, and he owuld be "using a word this badly". However, the "use of a word this/that bad" is fine.

AFAIK.

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: p0ntif
Some people just need to learn how to communicate gooder. It's society's fault. Literally.

w3rd.

 

[LordMaul]

Originally posted by: fatbaby
who cares? i don't think we all are english majors =D

Maybe not, but you finished 5th grade, right?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Um...Are you on speed or something LordMaul? Three posts in a row?

 

[Spamela]

i keep a gun handy just in case someone misuses the sacred English language in my presence.

 

[FoBoT]

If they were "literally taking money and product out of other customers pockets" they would have to actually take it out of their pockets. And furthermore, they aren't even stealing money from other customers.

LOL! funny