Arts More Fun from the “Literally” Police
posted by on December 14 at 15:03 PM
It takes a certain kind of person to derive pleasure out of people misusing “literally.” (I am one of those people. As is Sean Nelson. Eli Sanders dissents via Slate.) That Lincoln one—the first link there—remains my favorite, although I just got a great one in my inbox, from a publicist of Anthony Swofford’s second book, Exit A. (His first book was Jarhead, which later became a movie.)
In the middle of offering several story ideas, the publicist writes:
He was literally a small fry in the book world when JARHEAD came out…
Now please enjoy this picture of Swofford, followed by a picture of fries:
You know, there is a resemblance.
I think fry refers to a small fish. Which would be my preferred analogy anyway.
"Small fry" means "small or young fish." Literally.
YOU! ARE NOT. MY. FRIEND.
You're eating PUNK FRIES!
Again.
first sentence of last story in "dubliners":
"LILY, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry behind the office on the ground floor and helped him off with his overcoat than the wheezy hall-door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest."
my handsome drunk study-abroad roommate in melbourne gets all the credit for this find.
I refer you to the "literal" comedic genius of David Cross.
This is literally the best post on Slog today.
So does this mean that although "literally" literally means "literally", it can also figuratively mean "figuratively"?
I just laughed so hard I literally shat out my own liver!
I just laughed so hard I literally shat out my own liver!
Twice!
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).