Is anyone else out there annoyed at the misuse of "literally?"

[ailsagirl]

I don't think some people understand that literally means just that--
but I'm coming across more and more instances of people misuing it.
Recently heard:

"He literally oozed charm."
"It literally scared me to death."
"The walls have ears-- literally."

It makes me laugh but, at the same time, it annoys me that now
dictionaries are beginning to OK the incorrect usage of the word.
So many people say "Feb-you-ary" instead of "Feb-brew-ary" that
now dictionaries are using the former as an alternate pronunciation.

The English language is certainly not static but I hate to see it
so muddied up.

[Jim__]

1. Well, those people are probably using "literally" in a metaphoric sense.

:P

[SheilaT]

2. I'm annoyed by LOTS

of misuses. Lie and Lay come to mind as huge ones.

I joke that I don't normally support the death penalty, but I'd support it for certain grammatical errors.

[Odin2005]

3. Google "Semantic Bleanching".

"literally" is evolving into a generalized emphatic adverb.

And "Febyooary" goes back a long way, it's not a new pronunciation. Lighten up.

[raccoon]

4. It literallly makes me nauseous. LOL nt