Overuse of the word "Literally"!!

[Millie's Mum]

Just watching Home Inspirations Show and have lost count of the number of times the guest Linda Magistris has used "Literally"!! Such a pointless word!

 

[maymorganlondon]

Just watching Home Inspirations Show and have lost count of the number of times the guest Linda Magistris has used "Literally"!! Such a pointless word!

It's a real bugbear of mine too. And invariably misused as well.

Literally means 'with truth to the letter; exactly' or according to the strictest sense of the word or words. Figuratively means 'by or as a figure of speech; metaphorically', or 'in a descriptive, analogous, but metaphorical sense of the word or words'.

So if someone says "I'm petrified" - that is a figure of speech.
If someone says "Joe was literally petrified - we can expect to see a statue of Joe made of stone.

It amazes me the amount of nonsense that people spout when they are on tv. I know it's not easy to talk about things for extended periods of time without knowing that 1000s may be watching you at any given time on the telly (it may be millions, but at any given time, I sincerely doubt it).

 

[Millie's Mum]

I am generally (or should that be literally!!) amazed at the way some people abuse the English language! And as for grammar - don't get me started!! Of course, I am well aware that there are those who have genuine reasons, such as Dyslexia, for not being grammatically correct, etc., but there are those who just can't string a sentence together!

I read DBF's posts in the Back To You group on FB and am constantly amazed that she calls herself a writer - her spelling, punctuation, grammar etc. are atrocious! How she has managed to "write" books I have no idea........................

 

[Millie's Mum]

And now Julie Bates is doing it!

 

[Pickle52]

There's someone who posts on the main Q page, which must have a pay per press keyboard, as she is somewhat economical with letters! I can't understand a bleedin' word of it

 

[Tiddlywinks]

It's a pet hate of mine too - American guests as amongst the worst offenders.

Tova and Doris Dalton are right up there as major offenders.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...mar/12/reality-check-literally-wrong-use-word

 

[Caroleanne]

...and the TSV guest never says` ing` but says ` in` as in stagin instead of staging just like the Links of London guest I always think it sounds as though they aren`t speaking how they normally do and are trying to disguise an accent or speak `more proper` .....

 

[shopperholic]

I think Jill Franks is incapable of speaking properly, I can't believe she stresses the word "THINK" as in "someTHINK" instead of "something" and don't not get me started on the "bran new" or Barbie Suttons "bedrum".................unbelievable!

 

[ERICS MUM]

I made a living from talking to clients, presentations and public speaking and I would have been moved to a canteen job had I spoken like the QVC presenters do. My grammar and usage are far from perfect but I didn't use "filler" words nor hum & haw to give myself thinking time.

 

[ERICS MUM]

Reminds me of a jumped-up woman at work years ago - she was moved sideways into a rather "fluffy" job which involved speaking to groups of staff. She used the word "criteria" a lot which sounded OK in context. Unfortunately she then discovered "criterion" which she used as the plural, used to make me cringe every time I heard it.

 

[thatu]

Although it's colloquial, the Oxford English Dictionary has one sense of "literally" defined as:

c.colloq. Used to indicate that some (freq. conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).

1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.

 

[countrymaid]

I made a living from talking to clients, presentations and public speaking and I would have been moved to a canteen job had I spoken like the QVC presenters do. My grammar and usage are far from perfect but I didn't use "filler" words nor hum & haw to give myself thinking time.

I'd enjoy a canteen job. Good way to meet people, and I would literally give 110% to the job. I also "errrr" a fair amount - as I get older my train of thought often goes completely out the window. I'm easily distracted by people waffling on and there is far too much of that on Q. I believe I am literally sumfink of a daydreamer.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

Reminds me of a jumped-up woman at work years ago - she was moved sideways into a rather "fluffy" job which involved speaking to groups of staff. She used the word "criteria" a lot which sounded OK in context. Unfortunately she then discovered "criterion" which she used as the plural, used to make me cringe every time I heard it.

We'd sometimes play Bull**** Bingo during senior management briefings. Phrases like sub-optimal / work smarter / low hanging fruit / bang for buck etc etc used to cause a flurry of paper shuffling which the speaker probably thought was us all making notes of his words of wisdom.

 

[ohnonotshoppingagain]

I hate the way some people abuse the English language, and all the shortcuts to words used, that should only be used if and when texting on a mobile - I think it's ignorant apart from anything else.

'Literally' should only be used sparingly, and only if something has occurred in the literal sense.

 

[maymorganlondon]

We'd sometimes play Bull**** Bingo during senior management briefings. Phrases like sub-optimal / work smarter / low hanging fruit / bang for buck etc etc used to cause a flurry of paper shuffling which the speaker probably thought was us all making notes of his words of wisdom.

Ah yes - a popular game - you can play it with the rubbish most of the politicians say too!

One of my faves is "from soup to nuts".

 

[candycane]

Well you lot beat me to it. That Linda woman! I literally nearly smashed the literally telly because she literally was literally peeing me off. Good God. Why did none of the "gallery" tell her to stop it? Awful woman.

I hate "absolutely" as well.

CC

 

[thatu]

Well you lot beat me to it. That Linda woman! I literally nearly smashed the literally telly because she literally was literally peeing me off. Good God. Why did none of the "gallery" tell her to stop it? Awful woman.

I hate "absolutely" as well.

CC

Absolutely.

 

[srhgts]

One of my faves is "from soup to nuts".

What does that mean?

The misuse of "literally" drives me berserk. Tova is a demon for that, she says it every other sentence.

 

[candycane]

What about "let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it?" heard in one of our boring staff meetings. Or, "if you can't chew the toffees, get new teeth". WTF? Or "once we have engaged the service users we can renegotiate the allocation of workload to suit the specific skills of the workforce". Double WTF. Yes, you've guessed it, I work for a local Council. Who ARE these people they employ as managers???

CC

 

[maymorganlondon]

What does that mean?

I've often wondered myself!

From Wikipedia: "Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom conveying the meaning of "from beginning to end". It is derived from the description of a full course dinner, in which courses progress from soup to a dessert of nuts. It is comparable to expressions in other languages, such as the Latin phrase ab ovo usque ad mala ("from the egg to the apples"), describing the typical Roman meal.