Yes, the Grammar Nazi is here to complain once again about the decay of the English language.
Today, during a professional development session, a fellow English teacher mentioned to me that she had read something on CNN about a change in the definition of the word literally. The basic gist is that a couple of dictionaries (Mirriam-Webster and Cambridge) and Google have decided that they are adding to the definition to say that the word 'literally' can mean 'figuratively'. Erm, what?? Props to Dictionary.com and the OED for not making this change.
Have people gotten to be so lazy that they cannot even bother to understand the difference between figuratively and literally?? I hear this basic lazy mistake all the time and it makes my skin crawl: "I was literally buried under a mountain of paperwork." Um, no, you were figuratively buried in paperwork. "You literally are turning green with envy." No, because then I would look like the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. While my colleague and I were discussing this offense, another English teacher decided to put his two cents worth into the conversation by saying that this change didn't bother him because the English language is constantly evolving. While I agree that yes, the English language is evolving, this change to the definition of literally is just sheer laziness. Yes, I understand that the person who says he is buried under with paperwork doesn't mean it literally but that does not excuse his using the word literally in the sentence. It's complete madness. I'm not sure what was more offensive. The change in the dictionaries or that an English teacher doesn't find the change abhorrent. <sigh>
If you click the link above to read the article on CNN's website, watch the video. It's literally hilarious! :-)
2 comments:
I'm figuratively confused and literally sick. No. Wait. Switch that. No. Don't change it. Oh, I don't know which dictionary to believe
It's bad enough that these dictionaries are so quick to accept nonstandard or improper usage as the new correct meaning, but in this case, they're not even reflecting the improper usage correctly. When people lazily say "I was literally starving to death," it's true that they are being figurative, but they don't add the word "literally" to mean "figuratively." They add it as a kind of emphasis to ratchet up the metaphor. In effect, they're saying, "I was so hungry it's as if I was really was starving to death, not just metaphorically.
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