#Literally

[OtherMichael]

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

And, I could literally not give less shits how Mona Chalabi grammarizes.

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

I, after a sneak peak at this video, am literally lead to beg the question if I should keep correcting everybody.

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

Brilliant reply to Chalabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmGinbSNxXc. Also, if we accept the use of “literally” to mean “figuratively,” what word do we use to mean “literally”?

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

“Literally-literally.” Literally.

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

I find that grammar usage should be proportional to the seriousness of the conversation. Talking with friends (including IM and SMS) Grammar needed, low. I can always ask for clarification. Posting on a forum, BBS or Facebook? Grammar needed, moderate. I’ll make sure to be as clear as poss bile, but I may forget where the apostrophe goes or miss a homonym on my editing pass. Blog posts, articles and other unpaid/unsolicited creative works? Grammar moderately high. I need to be as clear and bul…

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

Any language* has different registers. What is unremarkable in one may jar in another. When Ms Chalabi invokes the OED in support of the use of the word ‘literally’ to mean ‘figuratively’, she skates over the fact that it has the qualification ‘informal’ next to the definition. If you want to maximise your chances of being taken seriously in a given context, you should use the register appropriate to that context. Anyone using ‘literally’ to mean anything other than ‘literally’ in a piece of fo…

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

That’s not what the colloquial use of the word “literally” means. It emphasizes what is being said. If you say “I am speaking literally,” it still means the same thing it always did. But if I say “I am literally not interested in whether my use of literally is correct or not,” you know what I mean. There’s literally no confusion. So stop pretending there is.

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

But there you’re using “literally” in its literal sense, so of course there’s not. Unless you meant you were figuratively not interested in whether your use was correct, in which case I suppose there’s figuratively no confusion? This is all getting a bit meta. Paging Douglas Hofstadter, could Douglas Hofstadter please come to the semantic quagmire …

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

I would argue that when people say “I told you literally a million times,” they AREN’T using the word literally to mean figuratively. It’s NOT clarifying that this is not a factual statement. Nobody believes that is is. Rather it just adds to the hyperbole. So it doesn’t really MEAN “figuratively” in that sentence. And I think that for the most part that is exactly how people understand it.

Why you shouldn't be a grammar snob

You guys are literally going apeshit over this video.