I literally told my father off. I said to him, "Off".

@XNY556-Apple

5 жыл бұрын

"Off" as in "sod off?"

@davidheaney4430

5 жыл бұрын

How dare you!!

The word 'LITERALLY' would be unnecessary if we would simply say what we meant, and didn't try to fluff our language up with a lot of pointless hyperbole.

@tjfSIM

5 жыл бұрын

That is a really good point. I wonder if other languages have an equivalent of this word, or if it's just not needed outside the English language. Modern spoken English is full of metaphors, proverbs and hyperbole, almost to the point that people are left to derive the true meaning of a sentence from what was implied rather than said.

@sherylhamaty3250

5 жыл бұрын

They use they word “literally” as a fad...it’s a fad for the millennials... expand your vocabulary people.

@rb93077039

5 жыл бұрын

Talking of which, another example is 'George Clarke's Amazing Spaces'. The overuse of superlatives on that show is "literally unbelievable!" (are you sure that's what you mean, George?), and with their use of cliches, "they've literally taken things to a whole new level!"

@clothilde1623

4 жыл бұрын

If we abandoned metaphors, similes, hyperbole, etc., then our language would be dull and joyless indeed. Imagine what song lyrics would be like, and poetry would be obsolete.

His sympathy for Britney has aged well. 👏🏽👏🏽

@yournamehere6002

8 ай бұрын

It aged perfectly

"Machines at the gym literally killed me the other day" "If only they had"

@Naturelady-rf5zx

3 жыл бұрын

How can they kill you if you are alive to comment and talk.

@Smorgasvord

2 жыл бұрын

@@Naturelady-rf5zx that's the point

the word 'literally' literally doesn't mean literally anymore. I'm sorry but that is figuratively insane.

@rogueuniversities6866

2 жыл бұрын

You're wrong

@darkeyezs

2 жыл бұрын

metaphorically

Жыл бұрын

The word "literally" literally still means what it meant for 200 years. It still has both meanings it basically always had.

I have a new one as the "literally"/"figuratively" annoyance is SO 'yesterday': "Antisocial" vs "Unsociable" eg. "Hey Dave, don't be antisocial, come to the pub!" Unsociable=not going to the pub/Antisocial=setting fire to the pub.

@mr.ursugan7142

3 жыл бұрын

What if you're setting fire to the pub with your mates?

@BaddaBigBoom

3 жыл бұрын

@@mr.ursugan7142 Haha, that would be sociably antisocial ;-)

I remember someone telling me about a horror film they'd seen which included the sentence "I literally shat myself".

@DonoVideoProductions

Жыл бұрын

Well, that COULD have been true...

I kind of agree with Jonathan. A lot of times I don't mind when words change their meaning, but I can't think of another good word to say what 'literally' means (I mean what it's 'supposed' to mean) and it's a really useful word to have. If literally stops meaning literally, then how do we express the idea? Do we invent a new word? I suppose we could say 'non-metaphorically' or 'non-figuratively' but those seem long and awkward compared to 'literally'. Plus I'm so used to using literally when I mean literally, so it would be annoying to have to stop and try to think of a different word, or to have to explain what I mean every time.

@tgi321

9 жыл бұрын

junbh2 Yeah; there are people who are guilty of this crime (Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, for examples). It just winds me up.

@yesdcotchin

7 жыл бұрын

junbh2 'actually' works sometimes

@johnnycastellanetta7183

2 жыл бұрын

"Literally" must be preserved with its actual meaning, which is very specific. "Like" is the other one that irritates me to no end. My wife watches the Batchelor/Batchelorette and I have to leave the room immediately due to the gratuitous use of "like". 🤢

Жыл бұрын

"Literally" literally means both. Nobody took away its "correct" meaning. But it means two things. Like plenty other words do. Oh, and you nincompoops lost that -fight- war literally over two hundred years ago. (Now, which meaning was that last "literally" here? No, it wasn't the "correct" one. Because it never is.)

@markm7821

Жыл бұрын

The biggest problem with "literally" losing its meaning is that people now use it to mean its exact opposite ("metaphorically", or not physically). And they're doing that because they're (0:54) stupid, not because they're utilizing it in a new or interesting way. I'm guilty of using it sort of improperly e.g. "I literally just got here." Which is superfluous because "I metaphorically just got here" doesn't make any sense, HOWEVER it's not outright incorrect based on the definition of the word. I think using "literally" for emphasis is okay and a natural evolution of the word, as long as it doesn't lose its actual useful meaning.

I'm with Jonathan on Ross!!

Oh thank you, this is one of my pet peeves in language and i'll go on the attack if i hear some half wit using it. "OMG I'm literally dying here!" "Quick dial 911, maybe we can save you."

@tommymiller6160

2 жыл бұрын

👏👏👏

@DonoVideoProductions

Жыл бұрын

No. No. Don't try to save them.

Someone asked what literally means and how to use it 'right', well, if you say something is 'literally' something, it means it's word for word exactly what you're saying, you're not exaggerating, you're not using a figure of speech, you're not saying something imaginative (literally is the opposite of 'figuratively'). Like if someone is 'literally dying' it means they are about to die, not that they're feeling bad or laughing hard or something, it means they're about to die, like they have terminal cancer or something. If someone weighs 'literally' 1000 lbs it means they actually do weigh as much as a car, i.e., literally means you're specifically saying that it's NOT that they just weigh a lot or that you're trying to say they're fat in a funny way. So it gets really weird if someone says 'literally' in a situation where it's obvious they mean the exact OPPOSITE of literally. Then why use that word when you mean exactly the opposite? (It's like if I said 'that piece of wood was so cold that I was afraid it would catch fire' - it's confusing, and then the next time you hear 'cold' when it isn't as obvious they mean 'hot', then you don't know which way they mean it). Of course some people say we should just accept that now it's sometimes used to just mean 'very' and maybe it isn't that important, and maybe they're even right, but if you want to understand what the word exactly means and what people are talking about, well that's what.

@Misteryowl

3 ай бұрын

All you need to do now is learn the comma splice and you'd have a more substantial argument.

@Misteryowl

3 ай бұрын

Like.

The thing about the word 'literally' is that it now has no meaning. In the example of Michael Owen literally being a greyhound, you could take out the word 'literally', and the meaning of the sentence would be exactly the same. So idiots have taken a very useful word, and by misusing it, have turned it into a completely useless word.

@rogueuniversities6866

2 жыл бұрын

Actually, you're wrong.

@Bruno_Noobador

2 жыл бұрын

I literally replied to a comment that was more than 5 years old

@vets923

2 жыл бұрын

It is being misused, because people lack knowledge.

@paulberks5609

Жыл бұрын

I think this is Jonathan's point. 🙄

Жыл бұрын

@@vets923 The only people who lack knowledge is you doofuses.

My sides were LITERALLY splitting with laughter at the Jamie Redknapp bit!

@clothilde1623

4 жыл бұрын

I hope you sought medical attention.

@DonoVideoProductions

Жыл бұрын

That must have been a mess to clean up. Not to mention painful.

People who misuse the word literal literally makes my brain somersault, turn green, explode, and ooze out of my ears.

@yesdcotchin

7 жыл бұрын

Darrell Burnett it's officially not misuse anymore I'm afraid

@lonewolf115

5 жыл бұрын

You should have changed ears to eyes.. that's a picture!

@jacksonjacob7791

4 жыл бұрын

Its find it really annoying too. Most of the time its unnecessary to even use the word in a sentence.

Also, it's weird to say "humbling" when you mean honored. Which is the opposite of humbling. *actor wins an Oscar* "This is so humbling"!

THANK YOU!

'Shabby equipment [not tools] always deteriorating' is from TS Eliot not Ezra Pound.

Johnathan Ross is such an intelligent person plays around on camera and I think a lot of people don’t realise just how clever he is.

@hoebywan

2 жыл бұрын

You don't have to be so smart to understand what 'literally' means. However you do have to be pretty dumb to think that you do.

@carswithsean7967

2 жыл бұрын

@@hoebywan I agree with this but I still think he is more intelligent then a lot of people actually realise

@hoebywan

2 жыл бұрын

@@carswithsean7967 Smart people understand he is playing a version of himself. Everyone else is supposed to be fooled.

The dictionary definition if "literally" niw includes a secobdary definition which is literally "Not literally, figuratively"

@jessicalee333

6 жыл бұрын

Not now (and definitely not "niw"). Always. It has always had that "secobdary" definition.

@djedd23

6 жыл бұрын

literally?

@marcuscross8051

6 жыл бұрын

From now on, I think all words should only have one meaning, to avoid confusion. Also, there should only be one word to describe each meaning. Or, to put it another way: From today forward, I judge that entire words must exclusively have singular definitions, to avert bewilderment. Likewise, there ought to exclusively exist a single word to represent each connotation.

@marcuscross8051

6 жыл бұрын

That would be a funny sight, if he opened his mouth and arse gravy came out.

Жыл бұрын

​@@marcuscross8051 Yes, death to all wordplay! So confusing!

I literally (lol) lived round the corner from him for a year in Hampstead Garden Suburb, and I saw him once and he said ello. I said hello back. Totally boring story but there you go. Seemed quite a nice bloke, easy going. Edit-he sort of looks like Nic Cage which is weird.

" He was literally holding the crowd in his hands." .... said by a candidate Obama supporter after a campaign speech 2008.

I hate the misuse of like and literally. They just won’t be told or corrected. It sounds uneducated, ridiculous and lazy. Let them go on sounding thick. I always think of Henry Higgins why can’t the English. I am trying to rewrite for like and literally.

This dude's my hero!

The second Jamie Redknapp comment was brilliant

@mr.ursugan7142

3 жыл бұрын

Child birth is hereditary. If your parents didnt have children, chances are, you wont either

Just this morning on The Andrew Marr Show, Mairead McGuiness (Irish Vice President of European Commission) said that this last year “the world has literally stopped turning”.

Good points everyone here....Along with LITERALLY ,the contradictory : AT THE END OF THE DAY... not every morning brings you sunshine...or BASICALLY , there's no answer to that.....

If your daughter describes her boyfriend as "spicy" then maybe they should get themselves checked at the clinic

In order to use literally as a joke, you need to understand what it literally means.

When I hear someone say, “That’s the most unique act in show business” I want to scream, and beat them about the head and shoulders. There are no degrees of uniqueness as it is an absolute. This error appears most frequently in news reports . . .

Im literally in room 101 rn this is so cool

Completely agree with this one.

Literally, like and obvious.

Wight on, Wossie!

Same as the idiots who say "im dead" or "crying". One thing that bugs me is when youtubers beg for likes at the start of videos! Its there as a tool if you LIKED it, not to generate virtual ego points

Spicy is a new word for controversial. e.g. Spicy tweet = controversial tweet.

I laughed so hard at this I literally shit myself.

I'm Nigerian too 🇳🇬

The informal usage of 'Bad' literally means 'Good'. The informal usage of 'literally' literally means 'figuratively'. There is presently, in the English vernacular, no emphatic way of referring to reality, other than to omit all modifiers, and pray the listener is not an idiot.

@josephamitrano6957

2 жыл бұрын

it's not about informal, let's be honest, these people don't know what literally means, they think it's a way of stressing something, like saying "really" that's exactly what they think they are saying "really" people who use "bad" meaning good, know that bad means bad and good means good. it's just slang. it came from the 90s where younger people started for some reason to use negative words to say something was good. These people using literally don't know what it means, they think it's a way of stressing how they serious they are. when they say "i'm literally angry" they want to say "i'm really angry"

Жыл бұрын

No, you can use literally, and use context. If your listener is an idiot, then you've lost anyway. Context. It's what language (and thus, communication) absolutely and *LITERALLY* relies on.

Жыл бұрын

@@josephamitrano6957 "I'm literally angry" is a great example… but not for the misuse. Obviously.

im with ya wossy

Isn't it ironic?

Add basically to the list.

I saw a YT comment recently "I literally died when......."

@maltefiebig9673

11 ай бұрын

So if he said "I died when . . ." you would accept it, since he is literally dead, right?

@faaiz2785

8 ай бұрын

@@maltefiebig9673 Yes, they don't need to use literally. Just saying "I died when..." indicates it is only a figurative speech.

@maltefiebig9673

8 ай бұрын

@@faaiz2785 No, it literally doesn't, that's the whole point.

What about "really"?

@You Are Spicy means bean burger

I disagree with Jonathan and Frank on this. I think the usage of 'literally', as in 'I literally died laughing' is grammatically correct and appropriate usage. The same applies to the usage of 'like'. In the typical situation of young people in their group, joking and conversing informally, what is inferred and clearly understood is: 'it was AS IF I literally died laughing'. So why omit the 'as if'? Because it is understood in the social situation. The speaker is talking to an intended audience who will clearly understand the 'as if' meaning. What is understood is that the speaker was so amused that it was, say, difficult to breathe and thus akin to almost dying. The speaker is not expecting the words, delivered orally, to be written down and subsequently read literally by old fogeys like Johnathan and Frank, for a laugh, completely out of context. Johnathan and Frank are not part of the speaker's 'in-group', they are effectively eavesdropping. It's like they are gate-crashing a conversation, interrupting the fun of the anecdote and saying: you can't be happy like that, leaving out words, because that is not the way I speak with my own 'in-group' in other conversations. So, why use 'literally' at all? It is used for emphasis, to exaggerate for effect. As Frank should know, many comedians use this technique in their story-telling and acting out. Yes, the speaker may have mis-judged the audience and spoken with an inappropriate level of informality. But if these words annoy you, ask yourself the question: should you be listening to this conversation at all?

@ryanname2503

Жыл бұрын

How about actually trying to justify how the word literally makes sense to say about something that ISN'T literal?

This literally had me in stitches! It's so true!

@Kodlaken

8 жыл бұрын

+Gluemonkey Oh my god what happened? Did you laugh so hard you fell off your chair and fell out your window and down 30 flights of stairs?

@fuckamericanidiot

8 жыл бұрын

I literally can't read.

Just use "almost like..." instead of taking another word hostage.

Tbh, one of the most annoying words in the whole English language, especially since how overused it is nowadays.

Litewally

for me it has to be when I hear someone pronounce a word with an 's' at the end....for example, yous (you) . Annoyingly its getting more and more frequent. ....

watch a Jessy James interview. this guy says the word "LIKE," 82 times in 3 minutes . yes I counted .

or as he says 'literwally'

Literally is the new "like".

There are two forms of speach, literal or figurative. Literal does mean actually. Its means not figuratively. The meaning of this word has been lost.

He was literally right about this

it has become a filler word. for people who have a poor knowledge of their own English language . "like", is another one . just filler words like um, uhhh, err. . it is used as a pause in sentence while the person searches a word to say . very poor English skills and horrible to listen to.

So he has a problem with hyperbolic language.

@tjfSIM

8 жыл бұрын

+luf4rall No, he has a problem with incorrect use of language.

@junbh2

8 жыл бұрын

Using literally to mean non-literally isn't hyperbole, though. It's not an exaggeration - it's an opposite.

@tjfSIM

8 жыл бұрын

Yes, it's not an exaggeration (you cannot exaggerate the literality of something, anymore than you can exaggerate its uniqueness) I think its use in this sense is an attempted qualification of an exaggeration - in other words someone might think that by saying it's 'literally raining cats and dogs' makes the exaggeration sound more credible or fantastic? 'Literally' is one of those words that was literally bound to be misused! :)

there's literally no literal use of literally being literal

Жыл бұрын

You are just absolutely entirely wrong.

Also, nobody says other words in America the same way British ppl do, but there's a trend of ppl in America using literally incorrectly, and on top of that they're pronouncing it as litchraly. We sat parental, not parentch. I don't get it.

Spicy is not new

😂😂😂

She's figuratively on a roller coaster to hell doesn't have the same punch, but yeah I do agree with this one. I'm sure it's Americans trying to sound intelligent and misunderstanding how to go about it. Irregardless is another one that gets my goat.

@DustinMWeber

4 жыл бұрын

It's not just Americans, I'm afraid. Many an English speaker, no matter which country he/she hails (England, Scotland, Canada, etc.) who uses the word "literally" as described in the video above is guilty of this idiocy.

Literally has been used for a long long time in both ways. So Ross is literally wrong.

@yournamehere6002

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's been used rightly and wrongly. Just more so wrongly or unnecessarily now.

Horrible Histories. Viking Song. Literally.

@weswheel4834

3 жыл бұрын

It's a classic. ("We're burning up this town")

It's exaggeration.

It was literally Michael Vaughan? I have been away too long. Real lovers of Cricket and not "crickets"! My over-used and misused word is still "basically". Guilty in the 1st degree. Ross Frozen Foods? Yes. All Is True and yet poker players throughout the world did not fold? Texas Hold 'em? My 'em bring them joy. When I said eyes front the long distance joggers were running toward a F Inland Revenue Officer sort of. F Inland. No skin off my..........never mind. If the fall the only thing left - I chose to find out if yesterday was the day is all. Only connect and I did. Victoria Coren Mitchell. Isn't the world small? My new book title Fool Metal Jacket. Anyone for "T"? wouldn't it be iced. Long title. I will think on.

anyone watching this for school, no just me (huh)

@paigelmao8161

3 жыл бұрын

me too lol

The meaning of literally though has evolved from its origin.. it originally meant that something was to be taken as it was written down, like a contract, or a law, or scripture. The current meaning of something happening in reality could easily be given back to ‘in reality’ like: ‘in reality Smeichel Sr. is Smeichels Jr father’ Given how much bullshit has been written down, literal sources are not as authentic as they have been, and “in reality”, there should be a difference between what’s written down and what’s real

@rogueuniversities6866

2 жыл бұрын

Wrong

@kingpuppo5880

2 жыл бұрын

No

Mark Twain had used 'literally' in-place of 'figuratively' in his work

am i the only one who’s english teacher made me watch this

Жыл бұрын

Bad teachers are nothing new.

i couldnt care less

A man who puts a W in front of every single word complaining about people not speaking correctly , that's funny .

@anxietii3806

6 жыл бұрын

johannes k hagbardsson he has an accent though, he has an excuse...

I'm tired of hearing grammar nazis saying I'm using literally yet they never take the time to explain how to use it properly.

@VillaBoys123

8 жыл бұрын

Do you really need it explaining to you? If so, it probably isn't worth their time pointing it out.

People who use the word “obviously” wrong gets my goat. For example: “My mum’s obviously in a wheelchair” When you don’t know the persons mum it’s not obvious

Жыл бұрын

"When you don't know"… so, it's not used wrong here, at least not *always*. Depending on context, it can be totally correct.

Spicey has been around for literally centuries to mean good or attractive. Far from new.6

I wud put in room101 1 people who smoke in buss stops , 2 the royal family . 3 eny one who votes tory. 4 all mps

kinda bad video ngl Never driven off road??!! Typical city boy. Get out and live life. Top gear is freakin epic.!!

Johnathan Ross needs to read a dictionary.

Жыл бұрын

Better yet, he should read about the actual history of the word.