Sabotage in Broad Daylight?
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If you like being punched in the gut, type the word literally into Google, everyone's favorite internet search engine. Here is what you'll find:
1. in a literal manner or sense; exactly. "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight across the traffic circle"
2. INFORMAL used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
If you're like most sticklers, definition 2 just ruined your day. When literally can mean "not literally true," aren't we living an Orwellian nightmare? Even with Google's fairly recent addition of "INFORMAL," it remains that definition 2 dilutes the power of literally to near uselessness.
Since when is Google qualified to redefine words? A closer look reveals that Google's self-appointed experts don't even know the basics of capitalization or punctuation. For instance, why no capital T for "the driver…"?
In addition to a capital letter at the beginning, a complete sentence requires a period at the end. Keep in mind that in America, periods never go outside quotation marks, and Google is an American company. Is Google punting on this one because they don't know where the period should be placed at the end of definition 1?
Look at the wording of definition 2: "Used for emphasis …" Does this strike you as a bit coy? Note the passive voice, which allows Google to duck the key question: "Used" by whom? Well, you hear it (ab)used a lot by education-challenged 18- to 49-year-olds who clearly have not bothered to learn what the word means. That's why they say things like, "She literally threw me under the bus" and "I'm literally freezing to death."
This is the very demographic that produced Google's founders, and most of its employees. These literally-torturers are the people who make the company profitable. So Google "gives back" by legitimizing its best customers' sabotage of this powerful word. For Google, showing solidarity with its contemporaries—even to the point of endorsing their ignorance—is a savvy business decision.
And it's no comfort that many dictionaries acknowledge the figurative side of literally. You literally will never catch us language watchdogs using it that way.
Today's article is updated from the original version by our late writer-editor Tom Stern, first posted on August 24, 2013.
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Literally, a fork in the road.
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