How the wrong definition of 'literally' sneaked into the dictionary (original) (raw)
Grammar nerds everywhere have long lamented the widespread misuse of the word "literally."
As anyone who paid attention in grade school knows, "literally" means "in a literal or strict sense, as opposed to a non-literal or exaggerated sense," and is the opposite of "figuratively," which means "in a metaphorical sense." But recently, it's become in vogue to use "literally" for emphasis in precisely the non-literal sense, as in, "We were literally killing ourselves laughing." It's the type of informal use that drives any self-respecting language lover nuts.
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