🚀 go-pugleaf

Josh Turner <shua@umich.edu> wrote:
> 
> Scott M. Kozel wrote:
> >
> > Josh Turner <shua@umich.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Highway patrolmen said that the car literally painted itself onto
> > > > the wall.
> > >
> > > Pet peeve time: The car *did not* literally paint itself on the wall. It
> > > *figuratively* painted itself on the wall. Why do people insist on using
> > > the word literally when they really mean just the opposite? AFAIK, there
> > > is no way that a car can actually "paint itself onto a wall", so the use
> > > of the word "literally" here is completely inappropriate.
> >
> > You're splitting hairs.  Are you an English major?
> 
> I am not an English major. However, I believe that when utilizing a
> language, such as English, one should do so correctly.

Pardon my improper usage of the English language.  My lack of education
is showing....  :-)
 
> And it is far more than splitting hairs. The word "literally" means
> literally the opposite of what the officer was trying to express...

I'm sure you're heard of a 'figure of speech'.

You should've nailed me also, for saying --

"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.

-- 
Scott M. Kozel    kozelsm@richmond.infi.net  
Highway and Transportation History Websites  
Virginia/Maryland/Washington D.C. http://www.richmond.infi.net/~kozelsm
PHL area http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/5961/pennways.html