I would figuratively like to put "literally" on notice
Did We Change the Definition of 'Literally'?
First I permitted smilies to appear in my informal online conversation. They felt strange to type. There weren't clear rules for where they could go in the sentence. Did they count as punctuation? But I had to admit, they sure were a compact way to convey a light tone. And it seemed to be expected of one.
Then I picked up the habit of omitting periods from the last sentence of a line of informal online conversation. The netiquette dictated this as a more open style, signaling the conversation was ongoing; the final period was felt to be too final, like throwing up a "Stop" sign. I wasn't sure I agreed, but I went along. One doesn't want to be left behind as the culture evolves. (Posts like this one are formal, not informal like a chat session. That rule doesn't apply here.)
I was informed I ought to drop my decades-long habit of typing double spaces between sentences. They're superfluous, now, and don't really aid readability. Online tools can render sentence spacing however they choose, and will ignore my preference anyway. I saw the logic, but it took me a while to warm up to this idea. I'm still retraining myself. These days you might catch me typing two spaces and then deleting one.
I still spell it "doughnut", personally, but I make no move to correct "donut". I hope you all appreciate the allowances I'm making, here.
I'll do my best to keep up as the language evolves. As a dude officially in my mid-forties, I'm going to have to work at it. I understand that innovations are responses to changing requirements. As we learn more about ourselves and our world, language must change to convey the new concepts.
Then there's "literally".
In a language fraught with double meanings, it is often difficult to convey an idea clearly. Sometimes it's unclear whether the writer is employing metaphor or some other device. Having a word that clears up all that ambiguity, that states unequivocally that these words mean here what they actually mean, is invaluable. It's like a Get-out-of-jail-free card for those pitfalls of semantics.
Tragically, this utility is crippled by the use of "literally" to mean "in a very strong, but figurative, sense".
I thought that second meaning was a new trend, and one I would refuse to adopt unto death. Not so. Per Merriam-Webster, the practice is centuries old.
That piece of news turns the tables. To drop that second definition would be the innovation. The dictionaries don't dictate words' meanings. They only document the usage their authors observe in the general population.
So, a call to action. Let's all agree, going forward, that the only acceptable use of "literally" is the first one:
In a way that uses the ordinary or primary meaning of a term or expression. Emphasizing truth and accuracy. Exact equivalence: with the meaning of each individual word given exactly. In a completely accurate way.
If you feel tempted to use the word purely for emphasis, resist! Our goal here is to starve that second meaning until it withers and dies on the dictionary pages.
As long as that second definition is hanging around, even saying "literally literally" won't save you.
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