Literally Wrong 2

[hjgoldstein]

I don't know why people who should know better keep doing this.
In this article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20176376

the researcher from the Mackintosh School of Architecture (only in Glasgow) says about people drying their laundry in their houses:

Some were literally decorating the house with it...

NO THEY WEREN'T!
The fact that this is a quote from (I assume) an academic source makes it even more unacceptable.
I am literally fuming!

Aspiring to mediocrity since 1957

 

[GHolden]

Apparently it can be used informally for emphasis while not being literally true:
I have received literally thousands of letters

Source:

http://oxforddictionaries.com

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

 

[hjgoldstein]

Quite, but...

...not acceptable in formal contexts...

and I consider an academic research report to be somewhat formal.

Aspiring to mediocrity since 1957

 

[GHolden]

Good point, well made

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

 

[BadBigBen]

I consider an academic research report to be somewhat formal.

but it was not written in the research report. BBC talked to the person conducting the research, and she said it to them (at least that is how I read it), thus it is in informal context and quite acceptable...




Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[SantaMufasa]

I literally agree with literally all of the above. It literally is so extraneous to literally qualify literally everything with the word "literally", irregardless of whether it is literally in a literally informal or a literally formal document.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[ChrisHunt]

This is literally the best use of the term "literally" that I know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qSkaAwKMD4

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[GHolden]

Jamie Redknapp likes to literally use the word to death:

"that cross to Rooney was literally on a plate"

"Barca literally passed Arsenal to death"

"centre forwards have the ability to make time stand still. And when Chopra got the ball, it literally did just that"

My personal favourite:

"he had to cut back inside on to his left, because he literally hasn't got a right foot"


There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

 

[tcsbiz]

People sure are using literally liberally.

I keep trying to do something about my procrastination but I keep putting it off until tomorrow.

 

[MeGustaXL]

Please don't stop people using "literally" literally all the time. They'll only switch to my next pet hate which is the repetion of "really" to provide emphasis. I literally really, really hate that, you know? like it really really bugs me when they use the rising inflection end to a sentence?

Chris

Someday I'll know what I'm donig...damn!

 

[Andrzejek]

Mine is the word ‘like’. For some reason used A LOT by high school girls, mostly (does it make me a sexist?) Take this one word away from their vocabulary and I am sure they will not be able to communicate, like, literally, at all.

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[ANFPS26]

Well, it won't be too much longer until all our worries about proper English will be gone because written English (and other languages) is disappearing and is being replaced with leet and text speak. Cursive is already dead.

Jim

 

[djj55]

Andy, your comment about not communicating brought back a memory. Many years ago, a friend was talking to another person. This friend liked to use his arms/hands while talking. I came up behind him and held his arms down. He could not talk!

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[Andrzejek]

I just came back from central Europe where I have noticed very interesting phenomenon: two people (guys) were talking using ONLY swear words, profanities, in their conversation, no other words were spoken. And the interesting part was – they understood each other! Amazing!

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[SantaMufasa]

Andy made me realize that "literally", as we used it above, is just as extraneous and virtually in the same category as any other profanity. To test this out, I read through the above posts, substituting the word "literally" with any other profanity that ends with "-ing".

This demonstrates how lacking in originality and purpose "literally" is.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[SamBones]

Mine is the word ‘like’. For some reason used A LOT by high school girls, mostly (does it make me a sexist?) Take this one word away from their vocabulary and I am sure they will not be able to communicate, like, literally, at all.

I live in California and was riding the train up the coast a couple weeks ago. At one stop two college girls got on and sat behind my wife and I. Not a single sentence came out of either of their mouths that didn't have multiple "like"s sprinkled throughout.

I started trying to keep count just to pass the time. That was near impossible since they were both pretty much talking over each other, so I would just focus on one at a time. As best I could count, one girl was at about 30% "likes". Her companion was easily up to 40% to 45%. The longest string of words without a "like" that I heard from either one of them was 6 words.

But I really started to laugh when I started noticing how the word "like" altered the meaning, it was sometimes pretty funny. One girl's father was "from like California". Ok, so he's not from California, but some place that's just like California.

The real confusion was when they started sprinkling the word "like" into discussions of things they hated. "I really like hate that".

I enjoyed the heck out of it even though my wife kept elbowing me. It really made the time pass quickly.

 

[CajunCenturion]

@SamBones - Sounds like you really liked your train ride, literally.

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[SantaMufasa]

...And have you noticed that "like" has taken on the meaning of "said" or "says":

I'm like, "Don't do that."

And he's like, "I can if I want."

And I'm like, "Only if you want my fist in your face."

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[SamBones]

I did. But in their defense, little bits of the conversation were showing hints of intelligence. The weekend before was a different story.

The train is called the Surfliner and runs along the rugged California coast. It's an absolutely beautiful scenic trip. The week before the "like Girls", a bunch of young teenage boys, surfers, got on. They had apparently been surfing all day and were taking the train home. The thing that amazed me about them is that for an entire hour, not a single intelligent thought was expressed from any of them. Granted, I didn't understand much of the surfing terminology being used, but everything besides surf was just about themselves. The girls were amusing. These boys were painful.

The one thing I did notice was their vocabulary for discussing surfing. There's an urban legend about Eskimos having hundreds of words to describe snow. I truly believe these boys had hundreds of words to describe a wave. It was awe inspiring at a certain level. They talked for a long time where I could understand the words, and infer some meaning, but not really know what the heck they were talking about. Other than it had something to do with surfing.

 

[Andrzejek]

SamBones, I see I am not the only one who gets the kicks out of ‘like’ 25 times in every sentence. Well, let’s call it ‘kicks’, but most of the time it drives me up the wall. And on the top of it – English is not my first (native) language. I cannot imagine how English teachers may feel about it, or maybe they don’t care any more…

I always wanted to approach such ‘like girls’ and ask them to skip all ‘likes’ and continue their conversation. That would be good for some giggles.

I wish I would have a little bell, like the ones in hotels on their front desks, that would make ‘ding’ sound every time ‘like’ is used. Combine that with Pavlov’s research and we have something….


Have fun.

---- Andy