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The Spectacle Blog
On NPR this morning in a debate over the debt ceiling, I heard a contributor say that the Republican Party is sufficiently ideological to “literally drive the country off a cliff.” Literally.
Is it time to give up the fight over the word literally? Joe Biden, of course, is famous for doing the same violence to the English language.
But that’s Joe Biden. This is NPR — a network that prides itself on high culture, that broadcasts Chopin, and radio drama, and breathless reports like “Are We Overusing Adjectives?” I feel a bit like LBJ this morning. “If I’ve lost the hoity toity radio hosts, I’ve lost middle America.”
Literally is just one of the things, like the subjunctive, that I find hard to let go. But is it time to concede the battle? Or is this pet peeve just a fashionable cause with no bearing in the language itself? What say you?
View all comments (7) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Kyle Peterson
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/22/time-to-give-up-on-literally
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Bob K| 1.22.13 @ 12:17PM
My response to the contributor would have been to note that Democrats are literally illiterate enough to believe Obama's programs will save the economy!
spike59| 1.22.13 @ 12:45PM
Awwwww...don't worry about it; Congresscritter and DNC chairbreaker Debbie Wasserderp Schultz (D-Hellman's Hairdressing Salon) destroyed, a long time ago, any meaning the word 'literally' may have had-yep, she grabbed the word in her man-hands and 'literally' strangled it to death
Occam's Tool| 1.22.13 @ 1:16PM
Well, I know the hosts of NPR frequently LITERALLYcrap their pants.
So don't give up. Literally.
Tom Kyba| 1.22.13 @ 1:54PM
According to liberals, words mean whatever they want them to mean, except when they don't want them to mean it.
Oldefarte| 1.22.13 @ 3:45PM
Yes I agree that "it is time to give up" or at least if/until the American people either grow some brain cells or begin using the ones that they possess [since they obviously were not able to or refused to use same on 11/4/08 and again on 11/6/12]. This country is headed for the brick wall of destruction @ 90 MPH and only the combined brainpower of it citizens/voters can effectively apply the breaks in time to stop it from smashing into same!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pigdog| 1.22.13 @ 8:57PM
What say me? I say, please tell it to Sean Hannity. I can't listen to him anymore. I turn off the radio. Literally!
rwyckoff| 2.12.13 @ 8:33PM
it's just a fashionable cause with no bearing in the language itself. get over it....