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Pedants' corner

Misuse of 'literally'

107 replies

DouzeQuinze · 19/07/2011 18:11

It is so annoying!!!

Heard today - "The weight of the world has literally been lifted from my shoulders"...

There have been many instances recently and it really grates on me! Anyone else?!

OP posts:
Malcontentinthemiddle · 21/07/2011 09:36

....so she literally turned round and said to me, I've text you three times and you haven't replied. And I literally just said to her, if you're going to send random texts at random times, I'm sorry, but it just makes me feel physically sick.

MinnieBar · 21/07/2011 10:51

My bugbear is the use of ambivalent. People use it to mean that they don't care about something, or that they're just not bothered.

It means mixed or contradictory feelings, dammit.

At least the OED is with me on that one.

coffeeaddict · 21/07/2011 12:15

BBC Breakfast interviewer today to a singer in South Pacific: 'So if you're singing these songs over and over, they're literally becoming part of your DNA'.

That would be a bit of a biological first.

MIFLAW · 21/07/2011 12:17

Watched a programme years ago about some Northern "lads" (i.e. desperately sad young men.) The father of one said, "he would come home literally legless." Beautiful.

MIFLAW · 21/07/2011 12:19

In my line of work, it often goes hand in hand with "physically" - "to make it work, you've got to physically put the numbers into the spreadsheet." What on earth could the user possibly think this might add to the sentence?

MrsWinklepicker · 21/07/2011 12:48

I'll tell you what gets my twatting goat, people saying "I was sat over there" .... no you weren't, you were sitting over there, unless some really big person picked you up and popped you on the chair. It literally makes me want to chew my own fingers off.

PaperBank · 21/07/2011 13:07

That's a regional one though isn't it?

"I was sat over there"

UpWithWhichIShallNotPut · 21/07/2011 13:09

@Piprabit - yeah! I thought it was going to be about that song.

Which I love, btw!

MrsWinklepicker · 21/07/2011 13:19

Nope not regional, incorrect (although maybe more people make the mistake in some regions than others). I was walking, I was driving, I was sitting - not I was walked, I was drived, I was sat.

ExitPursuedByAGryffin · 21/07/2011 13:24

Off of - Aaaaaaargh.

Something else annoying me at the moment is radio and tv presenters pronouncing to as ter. Once I started noticing it - I just can't stop.

Re being literally legless - well - surely we have all been there in the sense that our legs wouldn't work, no?

Lillabet · 21/07/2011 13:27

Without being accused of American bashing (I promise I'm not Smile), could I put these two articles forward for your veiwing pleasure? Grin
Why do some Americanisms irritate people? and the follow up Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples.

Wink
MIFLAW · 21/07/2011 13:46

MrsWinklepicker

"sit" does not compare to walk or drive as it is a verb describing a static situation - therefore "I was sat" can just as well mean "I had put myself into a seated position (and was therefore sat)" as "someone else had seated me".

MIFLAW · 21/07/2011 13:51

It is also, I think, a fair observation that "I was sat" reflects French grammar and may, therefore, have come into the language with Norman French, i.e. long before a "correct" version of English existed. I think you would have a hard job saying that something with THAT pedigree and longevity is "incorrect" in any meaningful sense.

Terpsichore · 21/07/2011 13:53

The worrying thing is that 'I was sat' has become so widespread recently. It's everywhere. Literally

thefirstMrsDeVere · 21/07/2011 13:55

I went to a baby massage class.

The woman teaching said 'literally' before every instruction.

Technically she was correct but it was very annoying.

'this movement is called xxxx and you literally take the childs leg and xxxx'
'this is xxxxx and you literally do xxxxx'

It was so annoying that I couldnt concentrate on what she was saying because I was waiting for the next 'literally' to come out of her mouth.

I still dont know how to massage my baby Sad

PaperBank · 21/07/2011 14:00

Yes it's incorrect as well... am I the only one who thinks regional incorrectnesses (?) are rather charming? Blush

Terpsichore · 21/07/2011 14:02

And another thing - the dreaded hanging participle (ooh, Matron). I'm driven mad by TV voiceover people solemnly intoning 'An ancient ruin with rising damp, she decided it was her dream home', or similar. STOP DOING IT!

bean612 · 21/07/2011 14:26

Ooh, my fave is "at all", as in "Is so and so there at all?" Er, either they're there or they're not, eejit. An ex used to say this and it drove me bonkers.

ExitPursuedByAGryffin · 21/07/2011 14:31

Ho ho ho, on a conference call and was just greeted with

"We are just literally gathering"

Thank goodness I was on mute!

bean612 · 21/07/2011 14:32

PS. Terpsichore, that isn't actually a hanging/dangling participle - a participle needs to involve a verb. Grin So, "Permeated with rising damp, she decided it was her dream home".

MrsWinklepicker · 21/07/2011 14:35

I think a lot of incorrectnesses are charming and there's no explanation as to why some grate so horribly.

MIFLAW - "I was sat" means that something external put me into the seated position, if it was me doing the putting then a simple "I sat" would suffice. If I am referring to what I was doing at the time of being seated rather than who or what put me in that position, then "I was sitting" would literally be the best way of describing the situation.

It can be compared to walking or driving as it is a verb. I was smiling, I was drinking, I was wasting time on pedants' corner when I should be working. Not I was smiled, I was drinked, I was wasted time etc

Malcontentinthemiddle · 21/07/2011 14:40

terpsicore Come Dine With Me is the worst for that: 'having poured her chocolate moussses into ramekins, they're put into the fridge to set' etc.

Terpsichore · 21/07/2011 14:41

I stand corrected, bean - but it still irritates the hell out of me!

MIFLAW · 21/07/2011 15:06

"MIFLAW - "I was sat" means that something external put me into the seated position, if it was me doing the putting then a simple "I sat" would suffice." No, I dispute that. I refer you again to contemporary French grammar - my contention is that this structure is a hangover of Norman French and Anglo-French. "Je suis assis" means, literally, "I am sat" but this is the nearest equivalent to "I am sitting". So it would not surprise me if, until the rule making frenzy of the 17th century, both were accepted forms. For someone then to say, on a whim, that it is NOT correct doesn't cut it, I'm afraid; if it is maintained in common usage, then it is correct. (Of course, if I have imagined this French heritage, then I am more than willing to be corrected.)

It cannot IN ANY WAY be compared to walking or driving because these verbs describe activity whereas "sit" describes a stasis. The best comparatives would be "stand" or "lie". Interestingly, though no one says "I was lain" (the only possibility is, "I was laid" which DOES mean someone else is involved), lots of people do say, "I was stood there" to mean the same as "I was standing".

so perhaps, in this case, rather than work out rules that don't seem to apply universally or analogies that don't work, we should settle for observing widespread usage? It's not as if (unlike "literally") we're changing the only previously existing meaning of the word; or (as in the case of "between you and I" or "off of") we are using something that can be "proved" wrong by analogy with other grammar rules (as I say, I do not find your "walking" analogy convincing or sufficient.) All we are doing is acknowledging that there is more than one way of saying the same thing, both with a substantial history and pedigree, that doesn't confuse the listener or remove a useful distinction.

jugglingwiththreeshoes · 21/07/2011 15:12

My DD is always spotting this with the TV chefs - she says Jamie Oliver is the worst offender. Everything will be ready "literally in 2 minutes" - 20 mins later and yes, it looks great, Jamie !