🚀 go-pugleaf

Scott M. Kozel wrote:
> 
> Josh Turner <shua@umich.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Scott M. Kozel wrote:
> >
> > > Highway patrolmen said that the car literally painted itself onto
> > > the wall.
> 
> > > "The first trooper that examined the wreckage was so sickened by what he
> > > saw that he vomited his guts out".
> > >
> > > That taken literally would suggest that his guts literally came out,
> > > which they didn't, only the contents of his stomach came out.  But the
> > > term "vomit your guts out" is an English idiom, which depicts violent
> > > regurgitation.
> >
> > I have no problem with idioms, or colorful figures of speech. I
> > certainly don't beleive that everything
> > that everyone says should be taken literally. However, here the officer,
> > by using the word "literally", was suggesting that this statement
> > *should be* taken literally. Had the officer simply said "The car
> > painted itself onto the wall," that would have been fine, as a
> > figurative, graphic illustration of the violence of the event.
> 
> You misspelled "believe".

Oops. No spell checker in Netscape News. 
 
> I think you should blame me, not the cop.  The word "literally" was (I'm
> almost sure) MY embellishment to the article.
> 
> But you wanted to blame the cop, didn't you?

???
Why would I want to blame the cop? I thought I was being rather polite
by assuming that the cop had made the error, rather than you. 

 
> And with all that they had been through (after all one of them spewed),
> can they be forgiven if one of them made a slight English mistake?
> 
> The world wonders.

Erm, I thought you just said that he was not the one who made the
mistake. 
 
> > Likewise,
> > had he said "He vomited his guts out--literally," I would have taken
> > issue with that, because presumably the officer did not actually eject
> > his intestines through his mouth.
> 
> I hope not.
> 
> > Using the word "literally" is a signal that what it refers to *is not* a
> > figure of speech, or a hyperbole, or an exaggeration, or a metaphor, or
> > a simile, or anything else; it is a signal that the event described,
> > despite sounding incredible, actually occurred. To whit: "He ate 23
> > hamburgers--literally", or "He is literally the worst golf player I have
> > ever seen," or "you are literally the only person I know that doesn't
> > like the way the Contour handles."
> 
> Relax.
> 
> What's wrong with having some fun with the English language?

As I said before, it's a pet peeve of mine. And I'm perfectly relaxed.