Wednesday, February 27, 2008

i'm literally confused

Has anyone else noticed how much people say literally these days, and they use it the wrong way? Like I just heard on the radio "He literally put his forehead against mine." And "I was literally scared to death." You're going to notice it now that you've read this, if you haven't noticed already. Also, I get confused when people say "It'll happen next Saturday" but they mean this coming Saturday. I sort of think of next Saturday as being the one after this one. But this coming Saturday is also next Saturday because it's the next one coming up. I just get confused. Yeah? Okay.

6 comments:

H said...

I have just started reading your blog and think you are so funny! I agree with you on the next Saturday problem. Whenever I say a day, I usually follow with the date, but then I think I sound like Alec Baldwin when he was yelling at his daughter..."You thoughtless little pig... You better be ready Friday, the 20th, to meet with me."

Hey, at least there is no confusion.

stephy said...

No confusion whatsoever about when Alec was going to straighten her out. I was fascinated by that phone call too. And I think Alec should be strung up by his Schwedde Balls.

Eva said...

Gosh, I was literally just thinking the very same thing LAST Saturday, ironically (<---another horribly misused adverb). Huh.

Simone said...

The "this" and "next" Saturday thing really needs to be sorted out because it seems rare that the use of one or the other doesn't end up in some sort of clarification. It's so all over the map that I wont even commit to one or the other. It would be like if when people said "apple" or "tomato" they could mean either one,

"So, when you say 'apple', you mean the soft squishey one you put in a salad right?"

"No, I mean the firm crispy thing, but I would still put it in a salad!"

And you are right about the excessive inappropriate use of "literally" to which I may be guilty of. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. It should be saved for when you recall an incident where your boss drove you so nuts that you LITERALLY banged your head against the wall.

Jona said...

Did you hear the David Cross bit about "literally"? Some guy says, "It was so scary, I literally shit my pants!" And David Cross says, "That sucks. What did you do?" Guy's like, "What do you mean?" and David says, "I mean what did you do with your shitty pants? You can't walk around all day in shitty pants!"

Anonymous said...

Just yesterday I read in the paper how a police officer's heart literally breaks when it comes to drug offenders. (The doctors must literally be very good at putting it back together.) Bugged me to no end. I'm with you on this one, I notice it a lot.