Friday, June 5, 2009

What literally bugs me . . .

Can we talk about a couple of my pet peeves? Are we close enough to do that now? Ok, good - here we go . . .

Literally . . .
The word "literally" has to be one of the most misused words in the English language. People just don't understand it so they throw it in when they are telling stories. This is LITERALLY grammar abuse and it must stop. "We don't understand what you mean, Catherine. Give us an example," you say. Well, here you go, my friends . . .

"I LITERALLY laughed my head off. " [Really? Because I don't think that's possible.]
"When he walked in, I LITERALLY died." [Wow. Now that's a story I'd like to hear more of.]
"The fans are LITERALLY hanging from the rafters here." [That was said by a sportscaster who was reporting from the arena where a local college basketball team had just won a big game. Imagine my disappointment when the camera didn't pan to show these rafters filled with wild, hanging fans. You would think that would be news worthy . . .]
"When I heard about Heath Ledger, my chin LITERALLY hit the keyboard." [Ouch! Did your jaw dislocate?]
"This job is hard. You literally have to have eyes in the back of your head." [I imagine the number of eligible applicants decreased significantly at that point . . .]

And then people use it when it doesn't make sense. A friend of mine was telling me a story and she said "And I was literally stuck in traffic." I guess she was trying to distinguish that from being FIGURATIVELY stuck in traffic?? And then a woman on the radio said "I'm just literally talking right now." Hmmmmmm . . . I don't think that's right, lady.


Question talkers:
Have you ever talked to people who are question talkers? You know, people who ask a series of questions and answer them themselves? I had dinner with friend once and noticed that her entire conversation was a question and answer session with herself. Let me try to recreate that for you here . . .

Am I nervous about what the future holds for me? Absolutely. Am I sure that this is the right decision that I'm making? Not at all. Does that keep me up at night? You bet it does. Am I going to let that stop me? No, that would be foolish. Do I wish there was another way for me to handle this? Without a doubt.

Does this irritate the crud out of me? You betcha. I mean, if you have a conversation with someone who converses that way, you feel totally useless. As I sat there "talking" with this friend, I realized that I was not needed. She could have had the same conversation with her hamburger. And the hamburger would not have had to split the bill at the end of the night. Listening a question talker just makes me want to interject mean answers like so . . .

Am I nervous about what the future holds for me? I hope so - you should be. Am I sure that this is the right decision that I'm making? Well, you're an idiot of if you are. Does that keep me up at night? I don't know but you're putting ME to sleep. Am I going to let that stop me? One can only hope. Do I wish there was another way for me to handle this? I don't really care but I know how I'll handle things differently next time you want to go to dinner . . .

So those are literally two of my pet peeves. Do I have others? Absolutely. Will I write about more of them another time? Without a doubt. Should I wrap this blog up and go to bed? Yes, because I'm so tired that my eyes are literally falling out of my head.

8 comments:

Emma said...

Okay, literally one of my favorites......cuz I feel the same way!!!!! That was gooooood, Catchy! I like me some Catchy Chronicles :)

Phyllis Eddings said...

You know I am with you on anything grammar and usage related. Preach on, sister!

Unknown said...

Look, I mean, ya know you could literally fill like 25 feet of ya know blogging space, with, ya know like pet peeves. Look, they are out there, ya know, just waiting I mean to be addressed. Look, in other words. Wow, there is one of my personal favorites, "in other words". Look, let's go ahead and use the "other words" the first time around. Look, even Obama starts every other sentence with "look". And, ya know, he is like from I mean Harvard - isn't he? In other words, shouldn't he know better?

Alana said...

nice nora!!!
thanks catherines you wana no y you hav literaly scared the fingerz off me hands i will tel you why cauz i am horifeyed now that i may leeve a coment that literaly makes ur hed explod cauz the gramar aint write or i punctiated somthen rong or i ansered my own qestion or used a werd that literally makes ur body go into convultionz and you no the wors part of this here blog coment spac let me tell u it is the fact that their aint no spel chek so in other werds it leeves me not nowin if i speled everthing write or rong and literaly makes me feeel the urg to crap all ovor myselff and so u no what let me tel u that this here is abot all i gots too say

Anonymous said...

Seriously.

Unknown said...

Anonymous, I "definantly" would have said "seriesly" or something because I literally can't spell either one of these words wihtout spell check. Catchy, don't you hate it when people use " " in the wrong place too or am I remembering a "Friend's" episode?

Erin said...

I'm LLMAO

The Leuenberger's said...

LOVE this entry. It reminds me of why I love you so much!!