literally

The Internet has literally gotten out of control

/ Shane / 1 Comment

You know how literally everybody on the Internet literally misuses the word literally? Well, no worries, this will soon be a thing of the past. Someone has written an app you install directly in your browser so you literally never have to be bothered with this again.

…a free browser plug-in called Literally, which replaces the word “literally” with “figuratively” in all online text. As the website explains, that’s literally all it does.

Of course, the plug-in is not smart enough to differentiate when people actually use literally correctly, but let’s be honest; on the Internet that’s literally never going to happen. So I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it.

Link via Sara.

(By the way, a quick google turns up lots of news outlets having fun titling their articles, from “Browser Plug-in Figuratively Kills the Word Literally” to “New Browser Plug-in Would Literally Annihilate this Headline“.)

Take on Me…literally

/ Shane / 1 Comment

I hate when people say literally and don’t mean it.

Literally.

It is probably my biggest pet peeve.  And I’m not the only one either, there are entire blogs dedicated to the topic.

I would say “Man on Fire” was probably the biggest offense to my sensibilities.  They had a commercial which played about 10 bazillion times which said, “Denzel Washington literally sets the screen on fire!”  Literally?  Like he flies all over the country attending every screening and burns down the theater?  And if that is true, that is supposed to make me want to see the movie?

Holy crap, as I was typing this a weight loss commercial just came on T.V. and Chris Berman just said, “I was bigger than life…literally!”  How is that even possible?  Ah, Chris Berman, I had so much respect for you!

Well, there are a million examples.  Anyway, in the spirit of literalness, here is literally one of my favorite songs of all time!  Ah ha’s “Take on Me”, literally.  I don’t know why this struck me as so funny, but it really cracked me up.  I would like to see some more songs given the same treatment!

(linke courtesy Ichiban)