Literally misused
Did you notice the sign Steven made for the Chicago Marathon?
“You’re Kicking AssPhalt… Literally”
One of our biggest pet peeves is when the word “literally” is misused. It happens A LOT. The example I always think of is when someone says “my cell phone was literally blowing up” (referring to getting a lot of calls or texts). No. It was not. If it was literally blowing up, it probably would have blown your ear off, and you would be talking about that instead. It was figuratively blowing up (even then, that’s a dumb thing to say).
We sometimes say something then add “literally” to the end of it just to be ridiculous/funny.
Do you notice people misusing “literally”? Do you misuse it? Do you notice other misuses of the English language? Do you notice misuse of idioms?
We notice a lot of things. Like when people say “I could care less” but mean “I couldn’t care less.” If you could care less it means you actually care a bit, and what would be the point of saying that? Also, Steven recently looked up what “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” really means and now realizes most people are misusing it.
I found this funny post on another blogger’s site where she mentions some of the ones that bother her. Do you notice any of those?
I bet there are some phrases I misuse and don’t even know it! We just hear something being said a certain way and start saying it that way (like saying “suppose to” when it should be “supposed to”) OR a phrase becomes so misused that people don’t even realize what the true meaning is of it!
Not related, but I love this photo Carla’s fiance, Karl, took of me during the race. It was right after I told him Carla stopped to use the bathroom but was a few minutes behind me.
I saw Karl a few times during the race. He was easy to spot. Wonder why?
The balloon! Ha ha. (I took this photo)
Themocracy
I think you got your “couldn’t care less” and “could care less” mixed up. It should be couldn’t care less as in you already care the least amount and can’t possibly care any less than that.
Do you watch the show How I Met Your Mother? There is an episode where Robin misuses the word literally and Ted corrects her (they were highlighting how both things were annoying). I’m in love with that show.
I still get teased a bit for accidentally misusing words that my Dad does (if you hear it wrong enough times it can get stuck in your head I think). He often says “acrost” instead of “across” (among many other things he says incorrectly)
Ha! Too funny! Thanks for pointing that out! That is one I have heard misused so many times that I still mess it up! And I even proof-read this a few times.
I have not seen that show! That sounds like an episode I would liek though.
Ha! “Acrost.” I bet there are words I do that too as well. I used to pronounce a lot of words incorrectly because of the way my family talks and I am still working on that!
“I used to pronounce a lot of words incorrectly because of the way my family talks” wtf? You’d trust your East high edamacation over what youse family teached you? At least I knows how ta spell like. (Congrats on the marathon, couldn’t be prouder!)
Ha. Steven used to always tease me for mis-pronouncing “bag,” “flag,” “pillow,” “bagel” and various other words.
Thanks! 🙂
Growing up, I NEVER understood the “I could care less” phrase, and thought I must be missing something (I grew up with parents who spoke English as a second language). Turns out I was right to be confused!
Also, if you don’t visit The Oatmeal regularly, you should start – he does a lot of great cartoons on grammar – here’s one on the use of the word ‘literally!’
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally
Oh gosh! I love The Oatmeal cartoons! I need to see if there is an rss feed for them.
P.S. Love the “homosexual steamroller” in that comic. Ha!
I am an English major (not that you would know it from my blog since I ALWAYS misuse the English Language- bad bad!!) and I find mistakes ALL the time. It really bothers me when it comes from the higher ups in my job- they sound like idiots but get paid ridiculously more than I do.
My most hated phrase is: “At this point in time” which is just too many words to say “now” and I know people say it to look/sound smarter, but it backfires.
You have inspired me- I am going to post on hated phrases!
Ha! Who says “at this point in time”? Maybe in the movies?
Can’t wait to read your post 🙂
I love this post – misuse of “couldn’t care less” irritates me often. Also, “irregardless” when it should be “regardless.” Is irregardless even a word?
Looked it up (I am a dork!):
irregardless
an erroneous word that, etymologically, means the exact opposite of what it is used to express, attested in non-standard writing from at least 1870s (e.g. “Portsmouth Times,” Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S.A., April 11, 1874: “We supported the six successful candidates for Council in the face of a strong opposition. We were led to do so because we believed every man of them would do his whole duty, irregardless of party, and the columns of this paper for one year has [sic] told what is needed.”); probably a blend of irrespective and regardless . Perhaps inspired by the double negative used as an emphatic.
Ha! Okay. I am not sure if I have ever heard anyone use that, but I bet now I will. All the time (literally – not!) and it will make me crazy.
I like that picture of you too – you look so happy! Good idea on that huge balloon.
Thank you 🙂
Literally is used incorrectly a lot, huh, good catch guys. I think I am quilty for sometimes saying, “I could care less.” 😮 oop! That’s a great shot of you! Still love that sign!
When people say “mute point” or “the point was mute” I want to scream. It’s moot. MOOT!!
I make fun of the “literally” abuse stuff too. Much to the chagrin of my friends who like to use it!
OH GOSH! Last week I was in a meeting and someone much older than me said “mute point.” I wanted to smack him!
I love that photo of you looking back. Love it!
Thanks! 🙂
LOL @ Dave2’s “MUTE point”…that’s a good one. I am probably guilty of misusing the literally word. Bad Gina!
yes! yes! i hate it! i LITERALLY HATE the misuse of literally! 🙂 i blogged about it too once, but it was many many many moons ago…
Love it! I use “literally” a lot so I’m sure I probably misuse it some, although I try not to.
Hahaha, I can’t stand misuse of “literally.” People do it all the time…literally. Dane Cook does a joke about this that goes something like, “I took, like, a hundred-hour nap, literally.” He says, “No, you did not. If you did, that would be a coma. You took a coma.”
I hate seeing “should of”, as in “I should of done that.” It is should have, people!!
I really liked that sign Steven had.
As for the term “literally” I think it’s misused at times. People like to emphasize the importance of something with the term/word and it ends up coming out not making sense.
I HATE it when people say “O-M-G”, as in they spell out the letters. So very annoying and dumb!
I’ve heard “irregardless” a few times before too. First on “The Sopranos” and then several times after that. Irregardless is NOT a word people!
Ha. I sometimes type “OMG” “WTF” and “LOL”… but saying the letters outloud? Ha ha. (Okay, I do say “WTF” to avoid swearing).
I’m a word nerd and I have a lot of word nerd friends, so I have conversations like these ones A LOT. The “literally” thing kills me. Literally. HA. See what I did there? 😉 Have you ever heard of that show “The Rachel Zoe Project”? I was able to get through 15 minutes of one episode before feeling like I was going to stab Ms. Zoe. She is so full of herself AND she uses “literally” incorrectly all the damn time. I can’t wait for the day when someone finally corrects her smug, stupid ass.
BTW, tell Steven I love the sign. Kudos to him!
Oh gosh. I have not seen that show but I think it would make me crazy! Of course, I can not sit through one episode of anything, or really, even movies lately. My attention span is not doing so great lately.
I will tell Steven!
Ha! Those shirts are funny. I liked “Spell Czech” (with Czech underlined). Ha. “Christians have the best sects” kind of made me laugh too.
BTW, this isn’t really related, but the word nerd in me loves Mental Floss T-shirts. Have you seen them? http://www.mentalfloss.com/store/home.php?cat=103
I think I told you this before (maybe not though). When my youngest was little, he absolutely understood the word literally and used it often. I think he probably LITERALLY understood it better than most adults. We were on a field trip and the guy was trying to pull a cow over to the kids. The cow pooped while he was pulling it over and the guy said “look at that! I scared the crap out of him” My son quickly followed it with “literally”, which made all the adults laugh because he was so quick with it and it was correct. The kids were all still laughing about the guy using hte word crap in front of them so I doubt any of them even heard him say literally.
That sign literally is awesome. (I’m not sure how the word literal could apply OR not apply to that statement but whatever, I had to use it anyway).
The word pacific used for specific bugs the crap out of me. (but not literally)
Wait… are you saying people say “pacific” instead of “specific”?! Huh?!
You crack me up. I remember that story! Your kids are so clever! 🙂
“All intensive purposes” bugs me. What would that even mean?
I loved Steven’s sign. I hope it made other runners laugh.
I was actually coming on here to post about that phrase! It’s actually “all intents and purposes” but people (including one of my co-workers) say “all intensive purposes” all the time and it drives me nuts! I also hate it when people say things like “ATM Machine” and “PIN Number”…it’s redundant people…let’s think of the acronym!
Ha! I bet I sometimes say “ATM Machine” instead of ATM. I will have to watch for that 😉
that bugs the SHIT out of me. it is used all the time in sports. “he is literally on FIRE!” NO, no he is not.
Bugs me so much that I am pretty sure I’ve complained about it on my blog too.
It took me a really long time to come to terms with the fact “I’ve said my piece” is correct, even though “speak now or forever hold your peace” is also correct. I thought they should both be peace. It’s going to be a long time before I don’t trip over that one.
I hate irregardless.
Haha, I was just wondering about “literally” the other day. I’ve heard it used incorrectly for so long that I forgot the right way to use it.
One of my big pet peeves is when people say “unconsciously” for “subconsciously.”
Also, that is a really great sign! An inside joke is definitely what I’d want to see during a marathon!
Here’s one of my personal favorites, although I’m pretty sure it only occurs in Texas. People say “fixin’ to”, as in, “I’m fixin’ to go to the store,” or “I’m fixin’ to take out the trash”. It replaces the words “I’m going to” or “I’m about to”. I have no idea where it comes from, and it LITERALLY makes no sense, but we use it all the time. And yes, you have to leave off the G. If you say “fixing to” it doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t bother me because I’m used to it, but whenever I say it around non-Texans they look at me like, WTF?
One grammatical error that drives me nuts is when people replace the word ‘asked’ with ‘axed’. I guess it’s more of a pronunciation mistake but it’s still nails on the chalkboard for me!
I haven’t heard either of those, but both would make me NUTS!