For me, it may be that the toilet paper roll needs to have the open end away from the wall. I don’t want to reach under the roll to take a piece! That’s ludicrous!
That or my recent addiction to correcting people when they use “less” when they should use “fewer”
The word “literally” has been forever ruined by people who use it to mean “figuratively.” Worse, there is now literally no way to actually convey the original meaning of the word “literally” in a concise, clear way.
You have to say something like, “A is literally 10 times bigger than B…and I mean that ACTUALLY literally.” And then people will STILL assume that you’re speaking figuratively.
Try using “precisely” or “roughly” where applicable. It lets people know you’re talking about firm realities and aren’t using hyperbole.
It’s a stupid, imperfect workaround and I hate that it’s necessary, but it’s the best we have for a decade or three until people stop bastardizing “literally”.
This one exactly. But don’t lose hope, the word doesn’t really convey figuratively other than online people who mostly sound foolish trying to push buttons. It is usually used as an emphasis when someone wants to say how close to the actual literal situation things were (even if not literally the same). People who use it as “figuratively” are in decline, kind of like people that throw a fit over “moist” and as long as we keep pointing out how ridiculous they are (both moist dramatics and literal confusers) their relevance will continue to fade.
It is a fact that A is 10 times bigger.
Figurative feelings don’t care about your literal facts.
There literally-literally is.
And to over-egg that particular
puddingpoint, word doubling might be a common thing in “simpler” languages and, ahem, pooh-poohed in “complex” ones, but that second “literally” restores the original meaning.For now.
Until some bright spark starts using “literally literally” to mean “figuratively” anyway.
Wait are you being literal right now? Like, actually??
Yes. And by actually, I of course mean facetiously, because language changes.
I has been used figuratively for literal centuries.
It does bug me when the context needs clarity and the person won’t clarify which way they mean it.
Right with ya. I literally refuse to use the word when I mean figuratively.
Don’t worry, people will create a new phrase soon það you’ll have some years before that one gets ruined also.
“exactly 10 times bigger” or maybe “legit 10 times bigger” can be used in a simalar way.
But language changes so me being stupid and wrong is also correct 🤔
Relevant
Literally can mean literally ( My girlfriend literally stabbed me in the back. I’m bleeding out and need an ambulance. )
It can also mean emphatically ( My girlfriend stabbed me in the back. She emptied my bank account, shot my dog and left town with my best friend. )
I won’t use it in the latter way, and will sometimes use the adjective proverbial ( proverbially ) if my metaphor could be plausibly read as literal. ( I could drive to Maryland and assassinate Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh for a fresh cruller right now. )