this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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For me, it may be that the toilet paper roll needs to have the open end away from the wall. I don't want to reach under the roll to take a piece! That's ludicrous!

That or my recent addiction to correcting people when they use "less" when they should use "fewer"

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[โ€“] [email protected] 48 points 2 months ago (22 children)

The word "literally" has been forever ruined by people who use it to mean "figuratively." Worse, there is now literally no way to actually convey the original meaning of the word "literally" in a concise, clear way.

You have to say something like, "A is literally 10 times bigger than B...and I mean that ACTUALLY literally." And then people will STILL assume that you're speaking figuratively.

[โ€“] [email protected] -2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Literally can mean literally ( My girlfriend literally stabbed me in the back. I'm bleeding out and need an ambulance. )

It can also mean emphatically ( My girlfriend stabbed me in the back. She emptied my bank account, shot my dog and left town with my best friend. )

I won't use it in the latter way, and will sometimes use the adjective proverbial ( proverbially ) if my metaphor could be plausibly read as literal. ( I could drive to Maryland and assassinate Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh for a fresh cruller right now. )

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