The English Language is Literally Dead

[hinakiba777]

...because according to Merriam-Webster the definition of Literally now include "figuratively."

The article

Merriam-Webster Definition

Definition on Dictionary.com

lit·er·al·ly
/ˈlitərəlē/
Adverb
1) In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle".
2) Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.
Synonyms
literatim - word for word - verbatim - to the letter

Now if you will all excuse me, I am going to go be sad. I mean, adding selfie to the dictionary is one thing, but to make the definition of a word it's antonym because people can't use the word properly is just foolish!

I literally feel sick! (Can you guess which definition I'm using?)

[MrsEclipse]

The English languageis literally dead as a consequence of it being a living language. How ironic.

Now that the usage is technically correct, I have less of a problem with it.

[HYHYBT]

It joins "cleave," then?

[Hyena Dandy]

Honestly, I think the whole thing went down the drains when literally stopped meaning 'According to the exact letters.'

I doubt that the Detroit Lions lost literally every game of their 2009 season. You can't do that very easily with a direct quotation.

[Ginger Tea]

I heard about this last week on Radio Dead Air WTFIWWY live, but it was half 4 in the morning where I am by the time the show starts so I wasn't in the best of my capabilities to write up a response and forgot about it till the VOD was put on blip.

To me, Merriam-Webster have been trying to kill the English language since gaining independence, I'm not sure which of the two was the publisher and which was presumably one of the founding fathers (as it's not my country only a few names are of any note from that era) but the FF one was iir really keen for English to not be the language of America, makes me wonder what the world would be like if they adopted French or German instead.

[Nekojin]

Dictionaries follow usage, not the other way around. They don't establish new words and new uses, they record them. Dictionaries don't tell us what usages are "allowed," only what was recognized by that publisher at the time that dictionary was published. Some dictionaries recognize slang; some don't. For a dictionary that recognizes slang usages of words, it makes complete sense for them to add the facetious definition of "literally." It's in common usage, therefore it gets added.

[mikoyan29]

Honestly, I think the whole thing went down the drains when literally stopped meaning 'According to the exact letters.'

I doubt that the Detroit Lions lost literally every game of their 2009 season. You can't do that very easily with a direct quotation.

Why did you have to go there? They were 4-0 in the pre-season...so they didn't lose every game...