Monday, September 20, 2010

Literally Lindsay


Did you know that Weird Al Yankovic is a fully deputized member of the Grammar Police Force? Earlier today he posted this photo on Twitter, which features the cover of Vanity Fair with a circled quote attributed to Lindsay Lohan:
 "I'm literally falling apart!"
To which Al tweeted, "LITERALLY??!"

Where does LiLo go wrong? She maintains her status as a huge diva by misusing the word literally. Favored by drama queens, literally is frequently misused and abused.

Quick rules:
  • Literally means 'actually' or 'in a strict sense.'
  • Unless you mean that something actually happened (not just in your mind, or metaphorically, or in an exaggerated way to make a point), then don't use literally. (Hilariously, @grammarsnark subsequently tweeted: "Lindsay needs this CNN article, stat. http://bit.ly/a7lxuu")

Correction:
  • It feels like I'm falling apart!
  • I'm falling apart, figuratively speaking!
  • I'm falling apart!

6 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for posting this. I saw this headline while waiting on the grocery checkout line and my jaw FIGURATIVELY hit the floor.

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  2. Anonymous: Heh. I'm figuratively laughing my butt off.

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