posted : Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

reblogged from : δiαloφhoƒt

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On “Literally”

distorte:

I’m wrong because people have been misusing the word for a couple of hundred years instead of a couple of years? 

No, NOT misusing but using one of the established meanings of the word.

By the late 17th century, though, literally was being used as an intensifier for true statements. The Oxford English Dictionary cites Dryden and Pope for this sense; Jane Austen, in Sanditon, wrote of a stormy night that, “We had been literally rocked in our bed.” In these examples, literally is used for the sake of emphasis alone. Eventually, though, literally began to be used to intensify statements that were themselves figurative or metaphorical. The earliest examples I know of are from the late 18th century, and though there are examples throughout the 19th century—often in prominent works; to my earlier examples could be added choice quotations from James Fenimore Cooper, Thackeray, Dickens, and Thoreau, among many others—no one seems to have objected to the usage until the early 20th century.

AND MORE ON THAT HERE.

It goes on to explain some grief over not misuse, but ABUSE of one of the actual understood (!) meanings of “literally” and then classifies the word with several similar ones meaning two opposite things:

There are many such words, and they arise through various means. Called “Janus words,” “contranyms,” or “auto-antonyms,”

And how, for some reason, people never criticize “really” when it’s often used the same two ways as “literally”

and of course examples are always fun:

such “abuses” have a long and esteemed history in English. The ground was not especially sticky in Little Women when Louisa May Alcott wrote that “the land literally flowed with milk and honey,”nor was Tom Sawyer turning somersaults on piles of money when Twain described him as “literally rolling in wealth,” nor was Jay Gatsby shining when Fitzgerald wrote that “he literally glowed,” nor were Bach and Beethoven squeezed into a fedora when Joyce wrote in Ulysses that a Mozart piece was “the acme of first class music as such, literally knocking everything else into a cocked hat.” Such examples are easily come by, even in the works of the authors we are often told to emulate.

Please do click and read and come. the fuck. off it. so that yknow, let’s lay this debate to rest finally and all you strict grammar whiners can go cry about something else that makes you feel superior I guess.

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posted : Monday, May 21st, 2012

reblogged from : Is that blogging?

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Verus aut Falsus

“In petris, herbis vis est, sed maxima verbis”

inspired by The Savage Detectives.

(ɯnʇɔɐpǝɹ sǝ sılɐnʇıʌ pǝs ‘snɹǝʌ :ɐ)

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posted : Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

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“ The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of the word is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.

Henri Nouwen (via azspot)

The purpose of the form is to convey the shape of fighting. When the spirit of fighting is internalized, the form is forgotten. Where can I find the man who has forgotten the form? He is the one I would like to fight…. Or uhh, actually, no. He would probably kick my ass. But he’d be a great guy to learn from! Much like my Sifu who dropped this gem earlier:

“Because a form is longer, fancier or claims to be older, means nothing. A punch to the face needs no pretense of historical relevance”

See also the classic, “It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory”

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posted : Monday, September 21st, 2009

reblogged from : AZspot

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Exercise: Three word sentences

yvonnegeorgina:

Fall is near.

No change here.

Three’s a crowd.

Girls are loud.

Shave your legs.

The dog begs.

Don’t love me.

Where’s your head?

Nothing’s for free.

Get to bed.

Ever the clown.

It’s coming down.

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posted : Monday, August 10th, 2009

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