These days sometimes people use "actually" to mean "literally," because no-one complains about that yet.
Or maybe because it still means what it's supposed to mean, unlike "literally"?
I see I see. When I said "These days sometimes people use actually to mean literally," what I meant was, these days sometimes people use the word "actually" to exaggerate. Because no-one complains about that yet. I see how that was confusing. But I mean. I wouldn't have thought to say that people use "actually" to mean "actually." Of course they do.
Living in the woods
Shia LaBeouf
Killing for sport
Shia LaBeouf
Eating all the bodies
Actual cannibal Shia LaBeoufRob Cantor - Shia LaBeouf
And if you haven't seen the video, go see it right now.
if (somehow) I ate a million pickles I would probably want to tell someone. But how? People would think I was exaggerating. Add 'literally' and people would still think I was exaggerating. Use 'actually' instead and well maybe I might start to convince people.
The real world has no such problem; it is purely imaginary. When you are exaggerating and use the word "literally," you already have an over-the-top exaggeration, e.g. "a million pickles." You can't eat a million pickles; if you say you literally ate a million pickles, it is absolutely clear that you are exaggerating. When you want to stress that something actually happened, the number will not defy reality; it will not be the kind of number you use to exaggerate. Or you know, the non-number, whatever it is.