Dictionaries recognise exaggerated uses of the word 'literally' - Polidicks

[img]http://puu.sh/4b2Uq.png[/img] [url]http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/15/living/literally-definition[/url] [quote]This is going to give grammarians a headache, literalists a migraine and language nerds a nervous breakdown. The definition of literally is no longer the literal definition of literally. Gizmodo has discovered Google's definition for literally includes this: "Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling." But it doesn't end with Google. Merriam-Wesbter [I](heh CNN fucked up)[/I] and Cambridge dictionaries have also added the informal, non-literal definition.[/quote]

I literally can't believe this!

This is literally getting run into the ground!

I've got a buddy who's an English major. This is going to be fun.

This literally made my day. I'm gonna go jog 12 miles now. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/A3PY7fh.jpg[/IMG]

literally

literally is literally defined as "something that isnt literal"

Literally is now defined as not literally. Good job English language, you created a paradox.

[QUOTE=fredstin22;41969233]The overuse of the word literally in this thread is literally pissing me off[/QUOTE] literally

[QUOTE=Judas;41969232]literally is literally defined as "something that isnt literal"[/QUOTE] I was about to point out that irony. ...literally?

"The glass is literally full."

Wow, this is suprisingly interesting Kinda cool actually

[QUOTE=Yahnich;41969263]i'm pretty sure there's heaps of paradoxes because people like using things ironically i literally can't deal with language purists who insist on languages staying static and never evolving[/QUOTE] I don't mind the language evolving, I just get upset when it pulls shit like defining words as opposite of themselves. I might be biased though, since I seem to have a hatred for the English language in general.

good.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;41969263]i'm pretty sure there's heaps of paradoxes because people like using things ironically i literally can't deal with language purists who insist on languages staying static and never evolving[/QUOTE] The English language doesn't need any more ambiguation nor does it need any more paradoxes. The problem with evolution in the English language is that words don't lose definitions. Instead, they gain them and keep the old ones. Case in point: [IMG]http://puu.sh/4b2Uq.png[/IMG] See also: [url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/set]set[/url] Another point I'd like to make is that evolution isn't always good.

as an English major, anyone who complains about this doesn't understand the beauty of language and [sp]literally[/sp] needs to shut up you're the same people that complain about "i before e except after c except when it isn't" also there's a difference between spoken language and written language and anyone who uses the word "literally" in the now-secondary definition in writing should be shot

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NGJMGTf.png[/IMG] Did they really just define literally by using the word literally?

I'm facepalming right now, literally.

Aw man, I was planning on starting a band called "Literally Worse Than Hitler" but now the emphasis is going to be ruined...

The people who use it too much are literally Hitler

I literally don't care

Great. Now the word means nothing.

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_tastes_good_like_a_cigarette_should"]Annoying misuses of words have changed their definitions before.[/URL]

Are you literally serious right now? I literally can't wait to show my friends this and they will literally respond to me!

I figuratively can't believe this.

Now literally literally means the opposite of literally? Literally?

Time to post those XKCD comics? Of course! XKCD is literally always relevant! [img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cautionary_ghost.png[/img] [img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/literally.png[/img]

Literally has misuses dating back nearly a hundred years ago This trend is nothing new

The amount of people using the world literally is literally give me a headache. (Srs.)

[QUOTE=Unisath;41969323]as an English major, anyone who complains about this doesn't understand the beauty of language and [sp]literally[/sp] needs to shut up you're the same people that complain about "i before e except after c except when it isn't" also there's a difference between spoken language and written language and anyone who uses the word "literally" in the now-secondary definition in writing should be shot[/QUOTE] Did you just tell complainers to shut the fuck up [I]and[/I] say anyone using the secondary definition should be shot? :v: