🚀 go-pugleaf

Scott M. Kozel wrote:
> 
> 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.

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. 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. 

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."