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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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People who think anyone uses literally to mean figuratively are annoying and too caught up in their crusade to realize their take is idiotic. No one uses it to mean figuratively. People use it to emphasize regardless of the figurative nature of language. It's semantic drift that happens to most words that mean something similar to "in actuality" (e.g. really, actually). Even in other languages.
I think the definition has even been updated to reflect this.
Yeah. Dictionaries reflect popular usage. And I think literally has probably been in use in that sense nearly as long as it's been used to mean something really did happen that way.
I find if more confusing than annoying, at times. If the emphasizing is getting on the way of being clear, you should maybe use some other way to emphasize it.
"I'm literally broke" shouldn't be a statement open to interpretation, in my person opinion. The internet and lack of familiarity with strangers just aggravates the problem.
That's a valid opinion. That they're using it to mean "figuratively" is not.