Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Why are so many people mis-using the phrase "literally"?
Over the last 4 years, it seems like every day I hear a young person (someone under 25) saying "literally" when they clearly mean figuratively or extremely. I never seemed to notice this before. Did today's youth suddenly discover the word but had no idea how to use it?
I can't buy into the fact that it's slang. I wouldn't have an issue with that, if somebody says "cool" or "boss" if it means something different. But when the word "literally" comes up, they're making an attempt to use it correctly but failing. It's one thing to use a word in the wrong way, but it's worse when they mean exactly the opposite of what they say. "That literally blew my mind!" or "That literally scared the crap out of me!" I don't think we should just dismiss it as teens being teens. If every young person believed that 5x10=100, that wouldn't be acceptable. Also, I do hear adults do it as well. The morning DJ on my local radio uses it unnecessarily all the time. My biggest confusion is why did this start becoming so common? I knew how to use the word correctly in 6th grade, and I didn't hear it often. Over the last couple years I hear it ALL the time and it's almost always
8 Answers
- Gretchen SLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
I hear people of all ages doing that. The announcer on an otherwise excellent "American Experience" on PBS last night described one of the Clintons' being "literally dragged" when it was utterly clear that one of them was "figuratively dragged."
It's not a young person thing in my experience.
- 9 years ago
It's pretty much slang, why does it bother you? We know how to use words properly, but we aren't royalty so we don't feel the need to speak as if the world would end if our grammar is wrong.
edit; I don't really understand, I am pretty sure that the people who I know that say literally don't actually have the definition wrong if you asked them about it. The word literally is added to make your point stand out and such, it's just one of those words that you say without really thinking about the dictionary meaning. Anyway I hardly hear people say literally anymore, legit is a lot more popular.
- Anonymous9 years ago
They aren't.
This sounds like a classic case of "recency illusion" - the mistaken idea that because you've only just encountered something, it must be new.
Lately there have been a number of solidly-researched debunkings of this peeve, showing that "literally" as an intensifier has been in respectable mainstream use for centuries. The situation is the the reverse: it's the belief that it's wrong that's new. For example:
"The trouble with literally" http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2...
- Anonymous9 years ago
It's a hook. It's the "so, like" of the 2010's.
It's the same with words like iconic or ironic. People love using those words and they have no idea what they really mean.
Hypocritical, is another misused word. I see it being used for people who don't know what something is supposed to be.
"I think it's hypocritical that you don't know how a car's transmission works."
What?
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- Anonymous9 years ago
In my young day, 50 years ago in southern Britain, literally everyone used 'literally' literally all the time!
- Beatle fanaticLv 79 years ago
Hi GK!
Lol, do you "literally" hear them?
Learning the definitions of words is too much of a bother for most young people these days so they just say what sounds good or what's popular among their peers.
- busterwasmycatLv 79 years ago
My son occasionally uses it correctly, but it seems to occur more by accident than anything. Drives me absolutely nuts when he says literally when he means precisely the opposite.
- Anonymous6 years ago
who f*cking cares you dipsh*t loser. get a life. Literally
