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“I was so mad I was
literally about to explode!”
“The traffic was so
heave that I literally crawled into work this morning.”
“The prices of milk
were so cheap that I literally could not believe it.”
Those are just a
few violations being targeted by language police Patrick Fitzgerald
and Amber Rhea in their blog
“Literally, A Web Log: An English language
grammar blog tracking abuse of the word ‘literally’.”
For about two
years, the blog has dedicated itself to the abuse of the word
“literally.”
For example the
blog found this excerpt from an interview with tennis superstar
Serena Williams:
“I was really excited that I went ahead to play Hobart because I was
really rusty, and I can see the rust shedding from my game
literally.”
They put all
“literally” references into one of three categories.
-
Incorrect: “I literally dropped
dead when I heard the news”.
-
Unnecessary: “I literally lost
hundreds of dollars in Vegas”.
-
Correct: “I literally bought the farm” to mean an exchange of
money (not a loss of life).
The blog is a fun
read in an “I’m-bored-at-work” sort of way.
But we have one
question: why are you doing this?
Their website
provides five answers:
-
Get a chuckle — sometimes these examples are mildly
funny (at least to me, your mileage may vary)
-
Educate — if I can stop one person from using literally
inappropriately I have done my job
-
Provide a Resource — this could be a good reference for
English as a second language
-
Make a little scratch from Amazon.com referrals.
-
Become famous and appear on the Tonight show.
At Speechworks, we
say don’t worry too much about misusing any particular words. When
it comes to speaking, “It’s about connection, not
perfection.”
At Speechworks we
help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a great communicator
give us a call at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net. |
