Re: OT: "literally"

[cld@xxxxxxxx]

From: "Patricia M. Godfrey" 
>> It occurs, in a variant form, in David Pogue's column:
>>
>> "On trips, I literally used to pack two laptops."
>
> But no, it may be trite there, but he did, literally, pack two
> laptops. If he had written, say, "I used to literally break my back
> lugging two laptops," THAT would be the usage we all condemn.

True, he didn't commit the mortal sin. As I see it, Pogue (who is, after all, a very smart guy)
isn't using "literally" in opposition to "figuratively" at all. For one thing,
there's no possibility, in this context, of confusion with any figurative usage -- how would one
figuratively pack two laptops? Rather, I think, he's using it as an intensifier, as in "this
is no joke" or "God's honest truth". Like it or not, "literally" has
acquired this secondary meaning, especially in informal speech. Life's too short to get into a
pedantic tizzy over it, IMO. Water off the canard's back.

BTW, note A. Lincoln's usage (and misspelling) of the word in question in a letter of his, the
original of which has just been found in the National Archives:

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2007/nr07-108.html

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx