How much does the overuse of the word "literally" bother you?

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Evenfl0vv@reddit

It's not overuse. It's using it wrong. People are dumb.

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jommly@reddit

It is SO annoying and often used out of context or accuracy. I literally jumped out of my skin - no you didn't, you'd be dead. Another word sacrificed to the ignorant bleating sheep of society.

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Suzilaura@reddit

Not as much as people who use "less" when they mean "fewer" which is stupid I know.

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afungalmirror@reddit (OP)

"Myself" instead of "me". Aaaaaaaaaaaaaassrrrrggghhhhh

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Suzilaura@reddit

When people use "and I" and "and me" incorrectly

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GreenPandaPop@reddit

When people who use 'lay' instead of 'lie'... grrr.

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Playful-Buddy-3499@reddit

I'm changing my name to Ime.all about Numero uno

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If I hear someone using it every sentence or too much, for me, it detracts any value from what they are saying. Especially if they say "I'm literally banging my head against a wall" - I wish you were. Maybe it'll sort your vocabulary out to use more relevant words in certain situations.

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DimensionOk3669@reddit

A lot

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RichardTauber@reddit

I literally exploded when I saw this.

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Danimal_300zx@reddit

No, you literally did NOT explode.

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blue_mask0423@reddit

Im literally guessing that he literally does not literally mean to be literally literal. I literally literal right, like, literally, now.

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blue_mask0423@reddit

Im literally guessing that he literally does not literally mean to be literally literal.

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Acceptable-Sample-52@reddit

No he didn't LITERALLY explode

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the_small_axe@reddit

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krypfromwm202@reddit

Literally makes me think that a person is literally either unintelligent or dishonest

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HamsterEagle@reddit

It figuratively makes my head explode. I mean literally.

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ExecrablePiety1@reddit

A bit late to the party, but I was LITERALLY just thinking that I should start saying "figuratively" as often as everyone says literally.

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Playful-Buddy-3499@reddit

This is how young dumb asses talk. I wish they could realize how lame they sound.

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HamsterEagle@reddit

You aren't figuratively late to the party, you are literally late to the party. So late I've moved house since the party started and finished. Literally.

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tmstms@reddit

I literally don't care.

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Playful-Buddy-3499@reddit

I don't care that you don't care. Really Beavis that's all you've got. Offer a constructive reply or shut up.

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JohnGault67@reddit

I can't stand it. I associate it with people who have low levels of intelligence, people who need more time to come up with what they're trying to say. It's so fricken annoying. I counted one time: Owen Benjamin said it 88 times in a 35 minute live stream on Rumble once. I unsubscribed and haven't looked back.

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daxinzang@reddit

first it’s how many people. not how much..second it’s pretty annoying to hear people use the word every chance they get

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st3akkn1fe@reddit

Literally not at all

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losimagic@reddit

Literally this

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Jaded-Inside-4469@reddit

Literally eat me

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Tamacti-Juuun@reddit

Clever!

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Queasy-Virus6272@reddit

It's literally literal use of "literally" that literally makes me literally lose my literal mind. Literally!

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z3exd@reddit

I think it's more of an American thing ngl. Same with the word "unironically" which ironically is used incorrectly 99% of the time. Anyone who actually talks to people in the real world don't use these brain rot filler words.

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seriouslynow823@reddit

I'm an English teacher but even if I wasn't----it would drive me nuts. Millenials insert it anywhere

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Maleficent_Pen_598@reddit

I agree. Simply stating "it is/was ___________" would suffice in and 95% of the cases. And nothing is worse than the combination of the words literally and like such as "it was literally like."

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Only_Aide_5227@reddit

I want to massacre whole gen z for that.

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pokemane9@reddit

Infinite I am 13 and have hated kids misusing it since I was 5 and learned what it actually meant.

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afungalmirror@reddit (OP)

Good for you. Keep it up.

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TheGadget1945@reddit

When people use it , it's like they have just done a huge fart.

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ExecrablePiety1@reddit

I littorally fell into a lake once.

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HyenaOld1739@reddit

Literally one of the most annoying things ever

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Zeus_vs_Franklin@reddit

It was never meant to emphasise but because so many people used it incorrectly it was changed.

Now the word 'figuratively' is unused by anyone under 30. It pains me that stupidity is even changing language.

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maxwellhouseeyes@reddit

Copying an old post of mine, which I'll put in the main thread for visibility. But 'literally' being used for emphasis goes back a long time.

The OED cite one of its uses as: "c. colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’." (https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/109061)

And if you look at the examples they provide in that link, under 'c', the earliest is from the 1700s.

Other uses from literary giants:

F. Scott Fitzgerald 'He literally glowed'

James Joyce 'Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet'

Charlotte Brontë 'she took me to herself, and proceeded literally to suffocate me with her unrestrained spirits'

Charles Dickens 'after he had literally feasted his eyes, in silence, upon the culprit'

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iwillpoopurpants@reddit

Authors using it for emphasis at least has an artistic reason. Please don't try to conflate that with the current misuse and overuse. It isn't the same thing, and it isn't even close.

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bedfontman@reddit

It’s annoying as hell

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TheGadget1945@reddit

It's a sign of low intelligence and someone who is probably over reliant on social media. They repeat and amplify the speech pattern of other social media addicts.

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Different-Gold9449@reddit

I'm only here because I've become fed up. I can't go one single day without someone using that word at work, using it out grocery shopping or running errands, on the radio, on TV, in the news, or on YouTube.

I am FED UP with that word to the point where if someone says it, I immediately bellow it at the top of my lungs to throw them off guard and then to point out how overused it is. Fuck this word.

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afungalmirror@reddit (OP)

We need more people like you. People with a passion for resistance. I salute you, friend. Never give up.

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OGBliglum@reddit

Massively, immensely, annoyingly...
Noticed it's a mostly a late Millennial, Gen Z thing. They use the word "Literally" in just about every other sentence. They misuse it as well, using it to emphasize their point.. Rather than it's intended use, which is to say in a literal, or strict sense. As in, "Not metaphorically, but literally".

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afungalmirror@reddit (OP)

I'm glad other people feel this way. We've tolerated this incursion of the word "literally" into every corner of our language for far too long. It must be stopped. But I don't know how.

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controlxoxo@reddit

Talked to a young person the other day that kept using “literally,” and “like,” literally like in every other word. Made me want to scream.

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OGBliglum@reddit

"Like" and "Literally" seem to be roughly 20-30% of your average Gen Z's vernacular.

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OGBliglum@reddit

Massively, immensely, annoyingly...

Noticed it's a mostly a late Millennial, Gen Z thing. They use the word "Literally", in just about every other sentence. And they misuse it as well, using it to emphasize their "point". Rather than it's intended use, which is to say in a literal, or strict sense, or "Not metaphorically, but literally".

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Anto7358@reddit

More than it definitely should.

As someone above me wrote: "It's not the misuse; it's the overuse."

American trends are utter cancer I really wish there still was some kind of cultural boundary/division between Europe and the United States, because Europe (and the rest of the world, for that matter) adopting every big American trend is utterly depressing. It's like the entire world is a pop cultural copy of the U.S. Sad.

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controlxoxo@reddit

Yeah, we once were leaders in culture. But we produce sludge now.

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Calvo7992@reddit

It doesn’t annoy me as much as people pointing it out and thinking it makes them original or intelligent. Or the people who like to point out ‘well actually decimate means remove by 10%’ or ‘well you can’t give 110% because cent comes from centurion and means 100.’ Like you’re not intelligent or original, you’re just a pedantic arse that nobody wants to be around.

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controlxoxo@reddit

Yea, to recognize the decline of language in the west totally makes someone an “arse,” and the people who lack the abilitu to think out their speech before spitting out lazy drivel, are literally like the best. Just stay on TikTok, and don’t think about it.

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maxwellhouseeyes@reddit

I've already replied to another comment with this, but I'll put it here too as it might be informative (if it doesn't get massively downvoted!).

'Literally' being used for emphasis is a real thing, and is included in its dictionary definition. And for over a century, possibly two or three, it has been used by highly esteemed authors.

The OED cite one of its uses as: "c. colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’." (https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/109061)

Other uses from literary giants:

F. Scott Fitzgerald 'He literally glowed'

James Joyce 'Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet'

Charlotte Brontë 'she took me to herself, and proceeded literally to suffocate me with her unrestrained spirits'

Charles Dickens 'after he had literally feasted his eyes, in silence, upon the culprit'

Some people do use it too much, but it's wrong to say that it was 'never supposed to be used that way'. (I'd also add that it's much less cumbersome than saying 'figuratively', which would always sound bizarre in a sentence.)

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

It's not the misuse; it's the overuse.

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controlxoxo@reddit

Exactly. People use it in every other sentence. Drive and nuts. It’s replacing “like.”

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

cant understand why people think this is a new 'problem' tbh.

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Vladimir Nabokov, and David Foster Wallace all used the emphatic “literally” in their works. https://www.thecut.com/2018/01/the-300-year-history-of-using-literally-figuratively.html

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