Tuesday, 10th March 2015

Curiologic, adj.

Pronunciation: /ˌkjʊərɪəˈlɒdʒɪk/
Etymology: < A bad adaptation of Greek κῡριολογικός ‘speaking literally’.

1. Of or pertaining to that form of hieroglyphic writing in which objects are represented by pictures.
2. Of or pertaining to that form of text message in which facial expressions are represented by emoticons.

Saturday, 20th September 2014

In the age of email, the traditional formulas for subscribing correspondence have mostly fallen out of use. I’ve devised some fresh alternatives, taking inspiration from the most beloved adverbs of the age. I record them here for my own reference:

• Instead of Yours faithfully, Yours honestly
• Instead of Yours sincerely, Yours absolutely
• Instead of Yours respectfully, Yours actually
• And instead of Yours truly, Yours literally

Monday, 1st September 2014

The Uses of Literally, part 94

In between the apparently correct – ‘In a literal, exact, or actual sense; not figuratively’ (OED) – and the apparently incorrect – ‘we were literally killing ourselves laughing’ – is the use of literally that is predicated on the vehicle being (strictly) literally true of a different sense of the tenor. For example, yesterday I heard on Radio 4,

While the horizontal aspect [of the New York grid] might be monotonous, its vertical aspect is certainly not. And obviously the skyscraper system of Manhattan has literally elevated that to a fine art.

Skyscrapers do literally elevate people – ‘raise [them] above the usual position, or above the level of surrounding objects’ (OED) – but do not literally elevate a non-monotonous vertical aspect to a fine art. This kind of use of literally insists too much on the aptness of the metaphor, and is therefore less modest than an alternative like as it were, which openly acknowledges metaphoricity.

Tuesday, 25th February 2014

Literally, adv.

Pronunciation: /ˈlɪt(ə)rəli/
Etymology: < literal adj. + -ly suffix

1. In a literal, exact, or actual sense; not figuratively, allegorically, etc.
2. Contronymous to sense 1, in a non-literal, inexact, or non-actual sense; figuratively, allegorically, etc. (perh. confused with laterally adv., to or from the side; in a side direction; sideways). This perversion has made literally unusable by careful writers.

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WEBMASTER

What he doesn’t admit is that the first recorded use of the perversion dates from 1769, in The History of Emily Montague by Frances Brooke: ‘He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.’