People LITERALLY use the word "literally" wrong all the time

[NicoleM]

and it's getting on my damn nerves. Yesterday I heard Dan Dierdorff say that somebody (Manning? can't remember) was "literally cutting (the other team) to shreds." Now, you might understand that to mean that the guy had a knife out and was actually cutting guys up like a roast beef. But he wasn't. What Dierdorff meant was that somebody was FIGURATIVELY cutting the other team to shreds. Which would be the OPPOSITE of literally cutting them to shreds.

It's not that difficult a concept. Why do people screw it up so regularly?

[SoCalDem]

1. Because they are literally......

Illiterate :)

[arwalden]

2. I'm Literally Typing My Fingers To The Bone

and literally pulling my hair out over this administration. I'm literally crawling the walls out of frustration.

-- Allen

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Doesn't All That LIterally Hurt!?!?!?!?

I mean the boney fingers and hair being pulled out, and then possibly falling of the walls and stuff?

Seems it would hurt enough to make you stop doing it.
The Professor

[hobbes159]

3. There's a woman that I work with....

(well, I work, she mostly chats on the phone or shops online) who uses the word "literally" the way that other people use commas. I sometimes count it during staff meetings to stay awake -- her record so far is 12 times in one minute....

[blondeatlast]

4. I literally despise the misuse of literally!

[thebigidea]

5. David Cross has a great routine on that

"Dude, I literally shit myself!"

[grannylib]

6. Oh this one drives me nuts too...I see it all the time on Brit TV shows

too; sometimes it's used appropriately but more often not...
You're right, it's not that tough...
Grrr

[skippysmom]

7. i heard that too

and had the same reaction!

[arwalden]

8. This Thread Is AWESOME!!

[Richardo]

14. "Don't "you" mean: This"thread" is literally Awesome!"

I'm series!

[truthspeaker]

9. that drives me insane!

But it doesn't literally drive me insane.

[PVnRT]

10. I literally want to strangle people who do that

Literally.

[NicoleM]

11. Yay!

It's not just me! :)

[Rattlesnake]

13. I'm literally going to agree with this post...

seems like the rules of the English language have gone down the sh!thole.

[FunBobbyMucha]

15. Word to your mutha. Literally. But in my book, it's second to the use of

"Orientate" and "Irregardless." I will correct people with twice as many degrees as me, and they always stare blankly and then continue to use these made-up words.

(Just FYI to the non-believers, you ORIENT someone to a new job. You do not ORIENTATE them.)

[Rattlesnake]

16. Irregardless bothers me too....

I wish those educated people would realize that it's not a word.

[NicoleM]

17. ME TOO!

And I also hate "commentate." You don't commentate, you comment.