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[AndrewisFTTW]

Oh and then there's this from another forum:

the game literally eats my cpu

That's literally not how you use the word literally.

But the word literally is literally used to mean figuratively in certain contexts. It's literally an acceptable thing to do.


And I'm not telling you if I mean literally in a figurative sense in that last sentence.

Literally not even gonna go there. To Cuba.

[Witherweaver]

Oh and then there's this from another forum:

the game literally eats my cpu

That's literally not how you use the word literally.

But the word literally is literally used to mean figuratively in certain contexts. It's literally an acceptable thing to do.


And I'm literally not telling you if I mean literally in a figurative sense in that last sentence.

Fixed that for you.

[Kuildeous]

Every time I decide to browse Facebook I immediately regret the decision. Today's Facebook ragequit was brought to you in part by some idiot who thought the phrase "draw-dropping" made sense.

What's the problem? You get called out in the Wild West, and when you draw you gun, you drop it. Usually ends in a loss with the victor saying "gg" over your corpse.

That's literally not how you use the word literally.

I blame Rob Lowe's character in Parks and Rec for overusing "literally." The funny thing is that I don't think he actually misuses it. When he says, "You are literally my favorite person in the whole universe," it could be true. It's not blatantly false like, "Gays are literally steamrolling us."

[eHalcyon]

Every time I decide to browse Facebook I immediately regret the decision. Today's Facebook ragequit was brought to you in part by some idiot who thought the phrase "draw-dropping" made sense.

Really should be "draw-jopping".

[Seprix]

Facebook's interface makes me want to put my face into a book. So I guess it works...?

[Ozle]

Oh and then there's this from another forum:

the game literally eats my cpu

That's literally not how you use the word literally.

It is now, yay for evolution of language!

[GeoLib]

Oh and then there's this from another forum:

the game literally eats my cpu

That's literally not how you use the word literally.

But the word literally is literally used to mean figuratively in certain contexts. It's literally an acceptable thing to do.


And I'm not telling you if I mean literally in a figurative sense in that last sentence.

I don't think this is really it. I will readily admit that the word "literally" is now grossly overused, but when people use it like that they are not using it to literally mean "figuratively." They are merely using it in a metaphoric sense.

In the same way that when I say "my blue dog pooped a million times when I took him for a walk," I am not being literal, when I say "my blue dog literally pooped a million times when I took him for a walk," I am still not being literal, nor am I using "literally" to indicate that I am being figurative, I am just using literally in an overall figurative sentence. Now one could very well argue that using a word that literally means "not figurative" in a figurative sentence is rather unhelpful, but it does not mean that the word "literally" is literally being used to mean "figuratively."

[LastFootnote]

The entire point of the word "literally" when used like this is to explain that what the listener might think is figurative is in fact not figurative, but actually happened. Now that that has been taken away through this type of usage, we have no word to use for that situation. Our language is poorer for it.

[pacovf]

Yes... yes... keep using literally as an intensifier... and when the entire English language will be devoid of meaning... we will hold all early 21st century dictionaries for ransom... for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

[Donald X.]

The entire point of the word "literally" when used like this is to explain that what the listener might think is figurative is in fact not figurative, but actually happened. Now that that has been taken away through this type of usage, we have no word to use for that situation. Our language is poorer for it.

What about "actually?"

The current non-controversial meaning of "literally" was itself fought against by people who wanted to only use the word to mean "word for word," which is what it started out as. We didn't suffer that much there.

I have never heard someone use "literally" in a way that did not make it immediately clear to me whether they meant "actually" or were exaggerating. Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

[pacovf]

I notice that the best way to summon Donald to a thread is to resurrect the descriptivism vs. prescriptivism debate.

FWIW, I think English not having a distinct singular 2nd person is quite the oversight, so there, one point for prescriptivism!

[LastFootnote]

Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

No argument from me there. I am all for bringing back "thou".

[Donald X.]

Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

No argument from me there. I am all for bringing back "thou".

Be the change thou wouldst see in the world! Like you're already showing what for to printers trying to protect their fragile punctuation.

Of course y'all has addressed this already regionally. I personally use "you" to mean "one" all the time, even though sometimes it must be confusing. I do say you-all on occasion. I just want to be understood in my lifetime.

Game Theory - I've Tried Subtlety

[Witherweaver]

The plural form of "y'all" is "all y'all".

Source: My relatives are from N'awlins. 

[GeoLib]

The entire point of the word "literally" when used like this is to explain that what the listener might think is figurative is in fact not figurative, but actually happened. Now that that has been taken away through this type of usage, we have no word to use for that situation. Our language is poorer for it.

Here I think I agree to some extent. At the very least I wish people would not use it so frequently.

Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

No argument from me there. I am all for bringing back "thou".

Be the change thou wouldst see in the world! Like you're already showing what for to printers trying to protect their fragile punctuation.

Of course y'all has addressed this already regionally. I personally use "you" to mean "one" all the time, even though sometimes it must be confusing. I do say you-all on occasion. I just want to be understood in my lifetime.

Game Theory - I've Tried Subtlety

Oh man I really want to be able to use y'all, but it's just so hard because I'm not from the south and it always sounds affected. I use it in informal writing sometimes, but never really in speech.

Also, gender neutral singular third person pronoun? I'm all for they, personally, but it's really hard to call a specific singular person "they" (as opposed to using "they" with e.g. every).

[sudgy]

Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

No argument from me there. I am all for bringing back "thou".

Be the change thou wouldst see in the world! Like you're already showing what for to printers trying to protect their fragile punctuation.

Of course y'all has addressed this already regionally. I personally use "you" to mean "one" all the time, even though sometimes it must be confusing. I do say you-all on occasion. I just want to be understood in my lifetime.

Game Theory - I've Tried Subtlety

...That was...confusing.

I personally say "all of you" when it's plural.

[KingZog3]

Every time I decide to browse Facebook I immediately regret the decision. Today's Facebook ragequit was brought to you in part by some idiot who thought the phrase "draw-dropping" made sense.

Maybe you need better friends. Or not look at facebook. Or not take people's stupidity so personally.

[jonts26]

Every time I decide to browse Facebook I immediately regret the decision. Today's Facebook ragequit was brought to you in part by some idiot who thought the phrase "draw-dropping" made sense.

Maybe you need better friends. Or not look at facebook. Or not take people's stupidity so personally.

Or just hide the feeds form people who submit stupid things.

[Kirian]

Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

No argument from me there. I am all for bringing back "thou".

Be the change thou wouldst see in the world! Like you're already showing what for to printers trying to protect their fragile punctuation.

Of course y'all has addressed this already regionally. I personally use "you" to mean "one" all the time, even though sometimes it must be confusing. I do say you-all on occasion. I just want to be understood in my lifetime.

Game Theory - I've Tried Subtlety

I use "y'all" all the time, even though I'm not from the right region (though close enough).  It's an affectation, yes, but it's a grammatically useful one, which is more than I can say for other verbal tics I have.

[Awaclus]

I've gotten used to "you guys" for the plural.

[Throwaway_bicycling]

I have never heard someone use "literally" in a way that did not make it immediately clear to me whether they meant "actually" or were exaggerating. Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

Apologies in advance; still new here. Is this literally a request for an explanation of how the T-V distinction destroyed the singular/plural contrast in most English dialects in the first half of the seventeenth century and therefore actually an opportunity for me to cash in on my dearly gained knowledge of obscure points of the History of English, or is this more a "get off my lawn" kind of thing?

[GeoLib]

I have never heard someone use "literally" in a way that did not make it immediately clear to me whether they meant "actually" or were exaggerating. Whereas, it comes up all the time that someone says "you" and you don't know if they mean singular or plural. What was wrong with "thou" for the singular, that's what I'd like to know.

Apologies in advance; still new here. Is this literally a request for an explanation of how the T-V distinction destroyed the singular/plural contrast in most English dialects in the first half of the seventeenth century and therefore actually an opportunity for me to cash in on my dearly gained knowledge of obscure points of the History of English, or is this more a "get off my lawn" kind of thing?

Well I don't think it was, but now I'm interested, so please expound.

[Donald X.]

Apologies in advance; still new here. Is this literally a request for an explanation of how the T-V distinction destroyed the singular/plural contrast in most English dialects in the first half of the seventeenth century and therefore actually an opportunity for me to cash in on my dearly gained knowledge of obscure points of the History of English, or is this more a "get off my lawn" kind of thing?

It is literally a request... naw I'm just exaggerating.

It was the lawn joke, but feel free to tell us whatever interesting things you know. Let's see. In a possessive, the apostrophe still represents a missing letter, it's an "e." Well, I'm out.

[Seprix]

I have troves of near useless information on the language of Latin. The Roman kind, not ecclesiastical.

[Seprix]

One of my most favorite YouTube videos of all time.