Posted on 04/23/2014 7:01:01 AM PDT by Scoutmaster
. . . Anyway, Slate has brought music to the ears of grammar sticklers everywhere, pointing us towards an ingenious new browser plug-in which replaces the word "literally" with "figuratively" on articles across the web. ("That's literally all it does," writes the developer on the extension's site; it already has one, five-star review: "This is figuratively the best invention of all time," says a user, predictably enough.)
. . . Unfortunately, the plug-in is not able to spot the correct usage of the word literally, "so if you install it, you'll also start seeing the word 'figuratively' to describe things that are literally true, as in, 'White Sox Rookie Abreu Figuratively Destroys a Baseball.' (The baseball was in fact destroyed)," says Slate.
This could be a fatal flaw in the invention – but you know what? I think it makes it even better. . . . As for me, I'm figuratively installing the extension as I write.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Slate's article, A Browser Extension That Replaces "Literally" With "Figuratively", also mentions the browser plugin Downworthy,"[a] browser plugin to turn hyperbolic viral headlines into what they really mean."
Alison Dionotto, who literally created Downworthy, says:
"Downworthy replaces hyperbolic headlines from bombastic viral websites with a slightly more realistic version. For example:
I am so fed up with the misuse of this word that I literally will kill myself if I hear anyone misuse literally again.
If you make another post like that, I will literally reach through your screen and strangle you.
“Apocalypse”—which means disclosure—is frequently misused on this board. There ought to be plug-in that replaces it with “calamity.”
“amazing” is a word I think is overused.
Actually I can overlook any word usage as long as it is not typed in text speak.
Yes, please.
They take stuff literally.
Nope. The Greek word from which the English word is derived means disclosure or uncovering.
The English word has a very different meaning.
a·poc·a·lypse: noun
1. the complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation.
2. an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale. "a stock market apocalypse"
Literally?
Good. Now can they make one which will replace decimate( to reduce by ten percent. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. to take a tenth of or from.), with annihilate (destroy something: to destroy something completely, especially so that it ceases to exist. defeat somebody: to defeat somebody easily and decisively)?
Also, could someone auto-correct who to whom?
A plugin that changes "hoist on his own petard" to "hoist by his own petard."
I’d like to see the phrase “More than you can imagine” never used again.
Every time I hear it, I want to say:
“I can imagine a giant fish eating the Earth and crapping the remains down a black hole, I think I can imagine whatever YOU are blathering on about!”
“Amazing” and “incredible” are the go-to superlatives for hipsters and hippies. I know a guy who uses one or both every single time he tells me about something in the news, something in the store, etc.
I hope they can come up with something that similarly summarily eliminates “so” or “I mean” or “Well, I mean” as the first words of a sentence. I must hear them 100 times a day even on TV on all but the most highbrow shows.
No more sportscasters writing “it will literally be a fight to the death”.
I have to say I even hear Rush Limbaugh misuse it once or twice a show. “Liberals’ heads are literally exploding over this” and “the American people are literally paralyzed by this economy” come to mind.
Clearly, at the end of the day, amazing moms literally drive me crazy.
Sorry, just couldn't help it given the subject of this thread.
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