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Original poster

Why don't the you ger generation understand the meaning of the word literally?

74 replies

Fairenuff · 03/11/2019 23:33

I was literally wetting myself.

No you weren't.

It was literally raining cats and dogs.

No it wasn't

It literally turned the house upside down.

No it didn't.

What is wrong with them. Why don't they know what that word means?

OP posts:
Original poster
Fairenuff · 03/11/2019 23:34

*younger

That literally didn't show up in preview.

Honest.

OP posts:
peachgreen · 03/11/2019 23:45

The meaning of the word literally - like the meaning of thousands and thousands of other words over time - has changed. Though not as recently as you might think - Mark Twain uses "literally" to mean "figuratively" in Tom Sawyer, amongst other early examples.

Language changes. It's great. That's why over here, "quite" means "a bit" and in the US, it means "very". Fun!

peachgreen · 03/11/2019 23:47

(of course when I say "changed" I don't mean to say that literally no longer means what it used to - rather that its use has grown to include the figurative meaning.)

30to50FeralHogs · 03/11/2019 23:47

I was only saying this the other day. So annoying. Along with

"I'm dead"

lottiegarbanzo · 03/11/2019 23:55

It's knowing hyperbole isn't it? No-one actually thinks literally means figuratively.

Original poster
Fairenuff · 04/11/2019 00:02

No-one actually thinks literally means figuratively.

So when they say it's literally raining cats and dogs they don't mean figuratively?

OP posts:
Hedgehogblues · 04/11/2019 00:03

Young people today, eh?

Original poster
Fairenuff · 04/11/2019 00:04

I know Hedge

They literally don't know they're born.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 04/11/2019 00:06

They do understand it

Just as you and I might say, "I nearly died with laughter", or "I'm dying laughing here".

Have you honestly nearly actually died whilst laughing? I haven't but I still say it sometimes.

So if someone were to say "I was literally wetting myself", it's the same thing really.

alexdgr8 · 04/11/2019 00:13

whose fault is it really.
they are not taught properly at school.
proper English language usage I largely absent.
instead they have to learn obscure technical terms from linguistics.
this is of no practical use, and I think it puts them off having any enjoyment of language, and expanding their knowledge of it.
also one hears so many terms used incorrectly, even on the BBC, what standards can young people look to and rely on.

lottiegarbanzo · 04/11/2019 00:18

No, they don't mean figuratively. No-one says the the word 'figuratively' when being figurative. Any more than they usually use the word 'metaphorically' to signal that they are using a metaphor.

They are saying 'it is raining so hard that it could literally be raining cats and dogs'. Thus they are being figurative by employing 'literally' as an emphasisor.

It's a bit like the way the Friends scripts used 'so'.

TabithasMumCaroline · 04/11/2019 00:20

Why don’t the older generation understand hyperbole? Grin

lottiegarbanzo · 04/11/2019 00:24
Grin
hotdogwoof · 04/11/2019 00:49

Maybe they were actually wetting themselves?

Countrylifeornot · 04/11/2019 01:51

It's so annoying, my 17 year old neice uses it as a replacement for most words....

Me: are you going to go to town later to meet the girls
Her: Yeah, literally.

Me: How's college, had a good week?
Her: Yeah, literally.

I give up. I feel like a grumpy old woman whenever I speak to her now.

DippyAvocado · 04/11/2019 01:53

It's just a language fad, in the same way my generation peppered every sentence with the word "like". It doesn't mean they don't understand the original usage, just that the current usage has changed.

Tyrotoxicity · 04/11/2019 02:25

They understand it to be used as an intensifier, as well as its literal (as in dictionary) definition.

Language evolves; it's fascinating to watch this example of it in the wild.

OkPedro · 04/11/2019 02:25

I was taught properly at school Hmm
However, many words become popular and are slang. They aren’t used properly and many make no sense.
I’m literally pmsl at the ops mistake
I dislike the use of like.
My daughter has started using “I goes” for “I said”

thecatneuterer · 04/11/2019 02:46

It's great. That's why over here, "quite" means "a bit" and in the US, it means "very".

We have both meanings for 'quite' here in the UK too - it depends on context. Compare ;it's quite nice', to 'she is quite lovely'.

@Countrylifeornot Oh my word. How do you cope? That would make me feel murderous.

Time40 · 04/11/2019 03:29

Another one that drives me mad (um ... not literally mad, or at least, I hope not) is 'paranoid' used to mean 'very worried'.

peachgreen · 04/11/2019 06:53

@thecatneuterer ooh, you're right! How interesting. Some might even say "quite interesting"! Grin

AuntieStella · 04/11/2019 06:56

I think the younger generation use it well

Ever since the vikings song: 'tonight we're going to set the town alight, literally'

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 04/11/2019 06:58

I was literally wetting myself

No you weren't

Tbf I usually am, damned pelvic floor.

WeeDangerousSpike · 04/11/2019 07:00

This drives me nuts. And I'm mid 30s!

However, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but the dictionary definition has changed. It now includes this:

colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.

orangeteal · 04/11/2019 07:04

It's called irony.