this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People, including many famous authors, have been using literally this way for hundreds of years.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes, but its use to mean its opposite didn't become widespread until the past decade or so.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People have been complaining about it longer than a decade, so you're way off there.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

Tldr: common use in the "figurative" sense for since the 1800s.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Incorrect. People have been using it the way you are complaining about for hundreds of years. It’s a new phenomenon that people complain about it being used the way you disapprove of. I’d attribute the recent complaints to lack of literary exposure and anti intellectualism in recent years.