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earthquakez
Joined: 10 Nov 2010
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 Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| liveinkorea316 wrote: |
| earthquakez wrote: |
No, you should have written "Figuratively sweating bullets". 
Really, anybody with such time on their hands as to trawl around like the fellow you're answering 'correcting' posters who don't agree with his limited worldview is to be pitied. "Checkmate"? Who would have thought the eslcafe exists to bolster certain individuals' low self-esteem? |
you should look "literally" up in a dictionary. Or actually a few dictionaries. You will find that JRWhite is correct and you, Earthquake, are wrong. |
Proof that living in Korea detracts from people's sense of humour. If you read what I wrote again and take into account the laughter icon, you will understand that I was having a dig at the troll who criticised JRWhite. |
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jrwhite82
Joined: 22 May 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Earthquakez - That's what 80% of me thought you were doing. However, part of me thought you were laughing at me...not with me! Haha! It was a little ambigious. Thanks though. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| It's a shame 'literally' has lost its original meaning as by using it in the sense of an intensifier we lose the word that means it actually happened. 'He literally lost his head,' in the sense of he went mad and was decapitated used to be clear and gave opportunities for humour (though not in this example obviously) Now we're not sure what people mean. It's just muddied. Sometimes the blurring of meaning like this is bad for the language. |
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jrwhite82
Joined: 22 May 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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Then by the same reasoning, figurative language is bad for the language. When you say, "He lost his head." Does that mean it was decapitated? Or does it mean he went crazy? It's very ambigious as well.
What if someone said, "He really lost his head." Does that mean it was decapitated? Or he went VERY crazy? The way you figure it out is through context, emotion, intonation, body language, etc...
The same thing that you can do with "literally" you can do with "really". So I don't see what the big deal is.
It isn't hard to decipher with all the other information available while communicating. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I was trying to say the meaning of 'literally' in the context I gave used to be clear. Now it isn't. For me that's a shame |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| I was trying to say the meaning of 'literally' in the context I gave used to be clear. Now it isn't. For me that's a shame |
Ah but english is resilient. "Actually" & "in fact" are both unambiguous substitutes.
Fighting usage shifts is the domain of grumpy old farts. |
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