L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y
Good day to you, dear reader. If you know me―and some of you do―then you know that I enjoy the proper usage and pronunciation of words. That is not to say that my own use of the English language is perfect, since it is far from it. I do, however, have certain pet peeves when it comes to speaking said language (also as some of you know, much to your chagrin, I’m sure). So, today, I will highlight my largest peeve pet, if you’ll indulge me. Hey, you’ve read this far, you might as well stick around, right?
Literally is literally the most overused and misused word in this modern era. Most often, it is mangled by those in the teenage through mid-thirties demographic, though I have heard it uttered by folks older than that, which may be an attempt at staying younger longer? IDK.
· “My heart literally stopped beating.”
· “The teacher literally threw my paper in the trash. I was literally like, why did you do that? And he literally said, you use literally too much. And I was like, literally?”
· “I am literally going through hell right now.”
· “Yesterday, I literally died.”
Okay, bullet point number two was a bit over the top, but I have, ahem, literally heard the other three uttered several times.
I am also a fair person, so in the interest of said fairness―and for the three or four of you still reading―here is what I discovered when I took a deeper dive into the definition of literally:
Actual definition:
In a literal manner or sense; exactly.
"The driver took it literally when asked to go straight across the traffic circle."
Today’s overused definition:
Used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
"I was literally blown away by the response I got."
Aside from the spike in this word’s usage in this new millennium, my brief research shows it was also in steady usage in the 1800’s, though I suppose that was quite a literal time in our world’s history.
To conclude my rant, and although the dramatic overuse of literally does not appear to see an end anytime soon, I would suggest to those over-users that perhaps, for the sake of my sanity, you could mix it up a bit and use some other appropriate words, like seriously, precisely, actually, exactly, or even verbatim. Your cooperation would literally save my soul.
Thank you for reading, and as always: whatever you are, be a good one…literally.
-Dave
