Mountain Goat wrote:
OutsideView wrote:
I was reading a discussion recently about if you should only use the word literally in the correct way or if it's OK to use it to add emphasis to figurative things. "I literally shopped 'til I dropped" could work either way but what word would you use to let people know you actually did collapse after shopping if "literally" isn't taken literally any more? I looked up some synonyms and "actually" or "genuinely" seem like good alternatives.
I literally don't use the word literally in such a sentence as it is not literal. (I just had to add my humour in that sentence!) Many words today are reversed from their origional meanings and confuses things. Example. "What do you think of this?" and someone replies saying "Sick", I will assume they don't like it, but they then would be upset by my response to their reply.
If people stuck to saying what they really mean it would be so much easier!

Sometimes the reverse meaning becomes the dominant one. Originally to
condescend to someone didn't carry the negative connotations it does now; this is why bitching about people using the word
literally when they literally mean the opposite is silly, ironic speech isn't actually confusing when you're aware of it.
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