5天前

The word literally makes me so irrationally angry

A player on Big Brother said that both her parents ran track and so she was "literally born on the track". Unless your mother went into labour on the track and gave birth right there, you were not literally born on the track!

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inb4 words change meaning over time
- Even if I accept words change meaning, what does literally mean now? What are people trying to convey when they say it? The only slightly practical thing it does is add emphasis. It's a useless filler word.
  
  You answered your own, like, question.
  They're doing what most people do: copying what they see other people say, particularly people they wish to emulate in some way.
  Really, it's fine. Context makes it clear when we literally mean "literally" literally.
  
  Don't ask me, I just try my very best not to be annoyed at this stuff :)
You said this makes you "irrationally angry" and then went on to explain a rationale behind why it makes you angry. I just want to note that's pretty much the same misuse of a term as the one you're complaining about.
- They can have rational reasons for their anger but be aware of the fact that they needn't be quite as angry as they are, that the extent of their anger is irrational. The two things are unrelated.
- But they didn't say they were "literally" irrationally angry
Relevant XKCD.
Yes, I think it's a pretty common pet peeve.
What's "the word" and does it make you literally so angry?
- The word is "Born" obviously. It literally destroys them to hear it
You'll be upset to learn that literally is now defined as figuratively in some dictionaries.
- Which robs it of all meaning and utility!
  
  It literally doesn't; it is giving it even more meaning and utility.. Just use the context to know how it's being used.
  
  Except that in usage it's almost never unclear and the use of 'literally' in place of 'figuratively' adds emphasis. So if anything it adds meaning. "Literally born on the track" is a good example - the meaning is clearly 'figuratively'. And the image of popping out of the womb onto a running surface adds emphasis and humour.
  Contronyms - words that can also mean their opposite - are just a phenomenon of language. Cleave is the common example. You can cleave to or cleave in two.
- I figuratively can't even.
Just a reminder that you need to dumb yourself down to sit through reality tv. Most of the 'contestants' are about as smart as a plastic bottle. And about as irritating as squeezing that empty bottle repeatedly.
- Right? OP literally brought this on themselves......
I thought this title said The world literally makes me so irrationally angry. Was like, yep, I agree.
Literally me.

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