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the wall street journal today literally asking "but what do dead kids mean for the GDP?"
(sh.itjust.works)
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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Oh I’m with you, but I stopped fighting for the word “literally” when the damn dictionaries gave up and added shit like this:
That other guys link says they did that over a hundred years ago.
But I guess that was just for the unabridged dictionary.
So literally is literally when not literally now?
Alas, it is a mere emphasis modifier.
Literally.
I still think there are different standards for filler words during conversations and titles in writing. In this case, the post title is simply a lie. For example:
Title: Florida Man Actually has Three Legs.
Content: guy’s got such a big dick, he’s practically a tripod.
In this case, that’s a misleading title.
Edit: I also wanted to add that a title is parsed on its own, without context. Of course, “literally” can mean “not literally”, but one needs context to figure that out. In this title, such context is not there.
I hear you. There’s room for confusion in much more than just titles, too. Often when someone reports something “literally” happened it’s some thing on the edge of credulity, but not past it, and you have to stop and clarify “wait, so the cop asked to search your car and you literally shit your pants?”