meridian_rose

This is excellent: it drives me up the wall when people misuse the word “literally”. And I don't consider my irritation to be just nit-picking: we're talking about muddying meaning, which leads to miscommunication. In fact, I've found I've had to stop using the word “literally” — instead using workarounds like: “his face was green; I mean that in the literal sense. He'd been painting a room with his buddy, and when his buddy up on the ladder shifted her position to reach a difficult spot, her tray of paint fell off the ladder, roller and all, and covered almost his entire face.” — or else say “his face was literally green — and I don't mean figuratively, I mean literally: a tray of green paint landed on him this morning while painting the living room. It was his buddy's fault; she shouldn't have tried to reach that spot. I saw the whole thing. That woman has no sense!”