Misuse of 'literally'

[DouzeQuinze]

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?!

Malc

I'm relaxed about that.

Can you be literally gifted, if you are very able at reading literature...

I suppose in theory you could, as it would imply that you had a genuine gift (presumably God-given) for reading, and that's feasible in context - but if you were very able at reading literature (is literature harder to read than other things, btw? because I'm very good at reading literature but shit at reading car maintenance manuals) then you would probably not use the expression "literally gifted at reading literature" because you would know that, unless you really did mean that God had specifically blessed you with a keen appreciation of Latin-based words, the word "literally" is adding nothing to that phrase, surely?

Aaargh "myself" thatone b8ge me!

Oops the typos in my post have scared away the pedants :(

I meant: Aaargh "myself" that one bugs me!

Apologies to MIFLAW for that terrible typo in his name! I only recently found out what MILF meant too (always last to catch up on changes to the English language over here in Belgium). I'm always having to ask my cousins' children what "new" things mean!

Have you seen this?

Very funny in the context of the misuse of the word "literally"