The word literally is used to much?

[ZippyRaven]

I listen to YouTube videos online to keep me company whilst working. I've noticed the word literally is used a lot, and incorrectly.

Eg "I literally got soaked through in the rain".

"She literally didn't know her way back home"

Etc

Aibu

My OH uses it constantly, multiple times in a conversation but I suspect it's a kind of 'tic' for him. I always wonder if other people notice it as well.
For me it's 'actually' and 'actual' that I find incredibly irritating. It's just used for emphasis instead of 'really' most of the time.

My 3 year old granddaughter uses this word 😂

Yes it is used too much, and unfortunately it's used incorrectly most of the time which makes the person using it seem like an idiot.

My Leicester use to to the extent it's beyond ridiculous. Ask if they had a good day "Yeah, literally". Any fun plans for the weekend, "Literally, yeah". Honestly it makes me not want to speak to them often.

Yes, but since you’re picking on grammar, it’s “too much”.

I regret the loss of the original meaning of" ultimate", as "the last" rather than its now meaning "the best".

Absolutely!

This isn't a new thing. It's figuratively been happening forever. (It's literally been happening for years.)

YANBU. It's something that's become a really common annoyance over the last ten years or so, along with people saying then when they mean than and mixing up genuinely and generally.

I knew someone who was head of English at a high school who used 'literally' incorrectly on a frequent basis.

I don't care, but I felt she should.

So, where to start you know it literally drives me nuts actually; my eldest (sic) daughter says it, you know literally all the time. The other one is well, you know, more chill.

For those arguing that ‘metaphorically’ or ‘figuratively’ would be more correct - of course they would, but the hyperbole is the whole point. Saying that you’re ‘figuratively dying for a drink’ qualifies the expression of your desire - using ‘literally’ emphasises it.

You literally beat me to it 😀

I was on a bus today and heard a teenage girl say ‘when I take my top off, if I’ve got tan lines I’m literally going to kill myself!’ I assumed she did not mean it literally - otherwise it’s a bit of an extreme response!