Grammar Police
This:
…reminded me of The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, the Facebook group I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar, and, of course, Literally, A Web Log, which tracks abuse of “literally.”
Kerry says that she’s going to start using “figurtively” in a literal sense:
“No, seriously, I was figuratively frozen on the spot.” Or, “I figuratively died.” “He really is figuratively eighteen feet tall.”
I say we join her.
January 17, 2008 12:26 pm 7 Comments
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By Herman Glimscher, January 17, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Figuratively, of course.
By Tim, January 17, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Of course…
By LK, January 18, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
I’m smilin’.
By Shaft, January 19, 2008 @ 10:31 am
I’m a pretty harsh critic on misuse of words (the biggest offender in my line of work: comprise), but I’m figuratively stumped on this one, so I thought I’d put it on the table for consideration. I heard a radio commercial for some computer service, and the voice-over said “you literally drag and drop files”. So my question is this: if “drag and drop” has entered the common parlance as a term used for this action on a computer, is that a proper use of “literally”? Discuss.
By Tim, January 19, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
My take: you are “virtually” dragging and dropping files.
By Herman Glimscher, January 21, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Speaking as a former proofreader and as a current editor, I would say that “literally” in that phrase is being used as a meaningless intensifier. It is needless and pointless and the whole phrase is an example of poor writing. Tim is correct, though. “Virtually” has the virtue of literally describing what is being done. One might literally drag and drop one’s computer into a bottomless pit, but anything done on-screen is either digital or virtual.
By Jess Lembach, January 21, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
I figuratively peed in my pants laughing from this post. (Well, literally, a little too.)