Isn't that just figuratively?
this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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frfr /s
I will repeat literally twice to convey i mean actually literally. "No, it's literally literally green".
Welcome to languages, where the definitions aren't static, and the meanings change over time.
This is brought to you by the word angnail. Yes angnail, not hangnail. Okay fine it's hangnail now.
Change is expected and important.
The word literal is an equally important job to do.
It's fine to make literal not mean literal, but then instead of needing a word that means not literal, we're gonna need a word that means literal.
Alright, guess maybe it becomes literally literal or not literally literal.
Come to think of it, maybe we should just say not literally literal for things that aren't actually literal and are just intending to be emphasized.
Or just stop widely accepting the dual meaning.
How do you accomplish that?
“You” has to be a general you not a specific you.
"Unequivocally"
I literally only use "literally" when I literally mean "literally".
"Verbatim" often works...
it's widely accepted that the word "literally" can be used to add emphasis
You found the root cause.
The solution is vicious heckling of idiots who misuse it - treat them like a middle-school drop-out - until they fix their behavior. Do the same for people who pluralize mass nouns as well: trainings, supports (not used like struts), emails.
I tried that with "irony". People don't give a fuck, they just want to randomly use words to seem smart.
That literally makes no sense.
Fr fr
The word you're looking for is "literally."
Wait until you find out where the word very comes from.
Verily the veritas may surprise you.
Edit: and literally does not even literally mean “opposite of figuratively” — it literally means “by the letter” — as in literature — as any literate person knows.
I may be a little amused by it, but not verily surprised.
Its a very bemusing experience ;)
I am nonplussed.
Yeah, literally
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(9 replies)
Then they'll just make THAT one mean "not really literally", too.
-- Frost
“Seriously” THE WORD. It’s not hard. There isn’t a “need” so much as a discipline and normal fucking intelligence.
I Absolutely agree. It's Totally absurd, we Really need a new word.
I propose "dictionarily".
I'm against a new word, but I like this word
Trying to proscribe a particular usage is a doomed effort. You may as well literally command the tides to turn back. You're really tilting at windmills. It's seriously like mocking a clown. It's exponentially harder than...
no, wait, we can still save "exponentially"! It doesn't just mean a lot! It has important properties that differentiate it from linear or polynomial systems that make predicting outcomes-
small, linguistic drowning noises
EDIT: small, linguistic surfacing noises
I thought of another one, rational used to just mean "possible to express as a ratio" before it got co-opted by the academic-industrial complex-
smaller, somehow more pathetic linguistic drowning noises
I think the lesson to learn here is that it is easier to kill a word by adding a new meaning than by policing how other people use it.
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(4 replies)
Best that I can do is, "non-figuratively." As in, "The power of the hurricane winds non-figuratively blew me away."
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Why? In which situations would this be actually ambiguous and, in that set, in which situations would the disambiguation actually be necessary for some real reason?
i have a vague idea (that i can't prove) that people have started using 'objectively' for this purpose. i also think this is hastening objectively towards the same fate as literally. there is objectively nothing that can be done about this
I've been liking "explicitly"
The word “unironically” also seems to be serving a similar function
I think we just need to be cutting off the fingers of dictionary editors one by one until they turn it back the way it should be.
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All we can do is use the word correctly, and maybe, if you feel like it, correct other's use of it.
We've nearly lost "envy", and hundreds of other words due to people using words incorrectly. But, as we all know, language is as alive as the people who use it, and it changes right along with us.
A more interesting story, to me, is the discovery that we're all talking less and less:
Psychologists discovered that, since 2005, the average person has spoken less each year than the year before, by approximately 338 fewer words per day.
I'm fine with descriptivism on theory, but it sure seems wrong in the cases where the word changes meaning due to people misunderstanding/misusing the word. That's not a a word gaining a new meaning, it's losing meaning.
The other one I need a replacement for is "begs the question" since so many people have misused that one too.
Words that mean “in fact” have been turning into “for emphasis” for literally a really very long time.
Edit: really means “in reality”, and very means “in truth”.
I've been using "genuinely" more and more in place of "literally" when I want to be, well, literal.
"Like actually literally, for realz"
People just put extra emphasis or say literally literally
Yes, that's why it bothers me that word "literally" is used for emphasis. I don't care how long it's been used that way, it robs the word of utility. The whole point of the word was to clarify that you mean literally when your words might otherwise be interpreted as figurative. Shit like this is why I'm unsure if people around me understand that I'm not exaggerating about the Untied States becoming a legitimate dictatorship committing holocaust level atrocities. I don't know how to communicate when I mean something literally and be sure people understand that I mean it literally and am not exaggerating
The word has been enshitified.
"widely accepted"
Yeah, no. People who use it incorrectly simply don't understand language or meaning. Just because there's a lot of people who misuse the word doesn't mean it's widely accepted. A lot of people believe in a god, doesn't make it true.
Thats not how language works
Sometimes the best way to show something as real is to say it plainly.
"They literally flew to Boston"
"They seriously flew to Boston"
"They actually flew to Boston"
Vs
"They flew to Boston"
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