this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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Even if I accept words change meaning, what does literally mean now? What are people trying to convey when they say it? The only slightly practical thing it does is add emphasis. It's a useless filler word.
You answered your own, like, question.
They're doing what most people do: copying what they see other people say, particularly people they wish to emulate in some way.
Really, it's fine. Context makes it clear when we literally mean "literally" literally.
It literally doesn't. The whole point of "literally" is to establish that context.
I don't remember the last time someone used the word "literally" and I couldn't tell whether they meant it in the classic sense or in the modern sense, either as an intensifier or as filler. If you do, then I'd genuinely like to learn about that, because I don't think I could imagine such a scenario. I might lack imagination or I might not be around people who use the word often enough to judge.
I genuinely believe you overstate the matter, especially in claiming that the word had been robbed of its previous meaning. I still use the word exclusively with its classic meaning and I never see confused faces when I do. 🤷 (That's not any kind of proof, but merely a reason for my current position on this.)