this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
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Science Memes
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You used literally incorrectly, "that really makes me want to literally smack a crowbar upside your stupid head."
It's a matter for interpretation, but I think they used "literally" correctly, but they were just wrong on the science.
Like, if I say that when the sun appears over the horizon, it is literally plaid colored, I am using "literally" correctly, but the fact that I am conveying is wrong.
Words mean what people think they mean when they say them. Nothing else. Miscommunication can occur if the speaker and listener don't have the same concept in their head, but it doesn't change the fact that words are just people serializing their thoughts into sounds or text. Dictionaries are not prescriptive, they are documentative.
EDIT: In other words, "literally" is in literally the dictionary with a definition including how OP used it.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally
If you can't accept that, can you accept that they were being facetious? This is a joke community, after all.
All the more reason to really reflect on how we use words. When there's confusion and misunderstanding, should we just accept it because that's how it is, or should we consciously decide if we are helping or hurting communication through the words we choose to use?
I "literally" don't care if you use "literally" to make an obviously facetious joke like OP did.
Stop philosophizing over a joke. We are in "science memes".
I will philosophize, phallosophile, and fallacify as much as I want thank you. Memes are important. (I'm of course using the strict Dawkins definition here.)
Okay but that's a dishonest argument. Sure reality is just perception and perception is unique to the individual. All that said words have meaning which we have agreed upon. Otherwise I could write gibberish, call it meaningful text, and prove anything. It's the fact that words have specific meanings which makes them useful. Otherwise it's baby talk and that's cute but not great for communication.
Yes, communication works best when people agree on what words mean, and a great, great many people have agreed that "literally" means things other than "literally". It's not gibberish to use it as such.
It's not a dishonest argument at all. Language is not prescriptive. It's constantly evolving. New words are invented all the time, and old words take on new meanings all the time.
Do you ever use "awesome" to mean "super cool"? Congratulations, you're misusing the word! How about "egregious" as in a bad error? Wrong! How about "fantastic" as meaning "wonderful" or "great"? Also wrong.
Even when words do have specific meaning, if you don't know the meaning they are useless to you, so it might as well be gibberish. Can you speak Swahili? Does that mean it's gibberish? Of course not.
You've obviously given this some thought. I'm curious what you think of an example. Think about this sentence: "The theory of gravity can help explain things." And then this one: "Evolution is just a theory." Is there a difference in what the word "theory" means?