Literally, Things Change

As I sit here, I am literally fuming. I blame it on lack of ventilation in the garage, which I just cleaned, and some leftovers that I probably should not have eaten. This morning, I was figuratively fuming as well, as I was reminded by the radio DJ of a tweet I read late last night.  The tweet informed me that google, answers.com, and American Heritage Dictionary (online edition) had added to the entry for the word "literally". Apparently, literally not means not literally. The actual definition on google search reads as follows:

"Adverb In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle". Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling" (http://goo.gl/ecdXVK).

After taking some time to think about it, and literally reading the definition online, I am still not completely sure how I feel about the addition. Language, especially American English, is a living thing; it is an organism that grows and matures. I have written about this before in "It's Alive". So, it should not be surprising that such a change might take place. However, as with global climate change and the use of PEDs, does the fact that it is happening mean we should not try to fight it?

As an English teacher, I teach my kids that figurative language is not meant to be taken literally, and such language can be powerful and meaning for that very reason. It is ambiguous. It literally makes you think, or at least it should literally make you think, in order to understand it. I suppose what is most fascinating to me is that in order to understand that what is meant figuratively is in fact not literal, some people feel the need to state that it is meant literally, and, therefore, it is not to be taken literally. While this seems like a great script for a new AT&T commercial, I do not know that it is what is best for our language. I may be reaching here, but to me, it seems that people may have decided that hyperbole is far too advanced for those around them to understand, and, therefore, they must add a touch of irony to the mix to get the point across. The problem with this idea is that most people who have dived headlong into the incorrect usage of "literally" that has now been given linguistic weight did not even realize they were doing so. They wanted to use hyperbole, but did not realize that adding "literally" to the sentence was not only unnecessary, it was ridiculous. 

So, now we as a society, or at least our online resources for language clarification, have decided that it is easier to just give up and go with it. In reality, it will not change anything. Those of us who cringe when we hear that a friend "literally died when I heard that" will continue to do so, and those who have never really worried about it, or noticed for that matter, will continue in their blissful ignorance of the change their ilk has inflicted upon the English language. What else can we do? We are not superheroes, moving effortlessly around the globe righting written wrongs (or spoken wrongs, which lack alliteration).

So, here we are. Will someone from the distant future, some nerd probably, look back one day and shed a tear as he marks August 15, 2013 as the beginning of the end? Perhaps. Perhaps not.  None of us can truly say what will happen in the future. We just do not know. Literally.