I have slowly come to realize that I am a curmudgeon. I have complained about office slang, social media, social media again, taxes, and interviews. Having recognized my curmudgeonly ways, I would like to celebrate by discussing one of the most curmudgeonly topics of all – the proliferation of the word ‘literally’ being used to mean ‘figuratively’.
I am, of course, quite late to the bandwagon. Literally has been defined by dictionaries (link, link) to mean both ‘actually’ and ‘virtually’ for at least a decade, and people have been complaining about the word’s bastardization for at least that long. I hold no resentment towards dictionaries for making this change. It is not their job to preserve or dictate the meaning of words, but rather to transcribe their actual usage. For the most part such a job does not exist, and I admit I find examples to the contrary, such as France’s Académie Française, more as amusing examples of hubris than aspiration.
Language changes. This has been true from the moment the first word was spoken. English is littered with words that literally used to mean their opposite. Egregious used to mean ‘remarkably good’, but has now flipped to mean ‘remarkably bad’. Nice used to mean ‘stupid’ before acquiring its more positive meaning (though, in the context of ‘nice guy’, the word is reclaiming its negative vibe). When it comes to words, unchecked irony becomes reality.
Ok, so. Language changes, dictionaries describe the actual uses of words, and I find efforts to control language laughable. What, then, is my complaint? The use of literally to mean ‘figuratively’ is just one of many examples of distorting words to intensify a statement. ‘She totally deserved that.’ ‘He’s taking forever.’ ‘I’ve told you a million times.’ Saying ‘I literally peed myself laughing’ draws on the strength of the word literally to convey just how hard the subject was laughing, even though no pee was produced. What’s the problem?
My contention is this: the proliferation of literally to mean figuratively robs us of the ability to say and mean something literally happened. In the linguistic jungle of metaphors, similes and ironic reversals, the word ‘literally’ had a special purpose. It served to strip a sentence of alternative readings, hyperbole and potential exaggeration. ‘I literally begged on my hands and knees’ pierces the metaphorical: the subject actually begged on their hands and knees, and through the use of literally they don’t need to waste additional words to convey to their audience that they are not exaggerating. Or, that is the purpose I wish the word still served. The ironization of the word eliminates its ability to quickly convey reality. ‘I literally begged on my hands and knees’ no longer clarifies what actually happened.
Comedy aside, what am I trying to achieve with my whinging? Ultimately nothing. The war has been lost. Literally means figuratively. Perhaps someday it will mean literally again. To me, the transition is a tragedy of the commons. When literally was only occasionally used for hyperbolic emphasis, it could strengthen a sentence while still serving its original purpose. Now, however, it has been rendered a filler word. Where once it served a unique[1] and valuable linguistic purpose, it is now literally dead.
[1] Tune in next time for my diatribe against the misuse of unique.
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