{"id":11677,"date":"2026-08-28T09:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=11677"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:16:33","slug":"experts-explain-how-confusing-the-word-literally-is-for-non-english-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=11677","title":{"rendered":"Experts explain how confusing the word \u2018literally\u2019 is for non-English speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cLiterally, I died. Dead. I\u2019m dead. Literally. Omg, for real.\u201d This was overheard last week, and it wasn\u2019t said by a dead ghost. It was a very much alive 20-something woman wearing pink palazzo pants.It\u2019s nothing new that people of all generations have their preferred vernacular. My Gen X folks often said \u201ctotally\u201d and \u201clike\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiterally, I died. Dead. I\u2019m dead. Literally. Omg, for real.\u201d This was overheard last week, and it wasn\u2019t said by a dead ghost. It was a very much alive 20-something woman wearing pink palazzo <\/em>pants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s nothing new that people of\u00a0all generations\u00a0have their preferred\u00a0vernacular.\u00a0My\u00a0Gen X\u00a0folks often said \u201ctotally\u201d and \u201clike\u201d as though they were going out of business, like ya know? People had to get used to it or we wouldn\u2019t be able to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiterally\u201d is one of those words that Gen Z has adopted, but they\u2019re not to blame for the fact that it\u2019s often misused. That has been going on for ages, and the complaint is almost a clich\u00e9 at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"literally,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s trace the word back to its roots. In Latin, the word \u201clittera\u201d means \u201cletter.\u201d The original meaning of \u201cliterally\u201d was \u201cto the letter,\u201d as in\u2026exactly. In Pamela Rafalow Grossman\u2019s article in\u00a0Reader\u2019s Digest<\/em>, she writes: \u201cThis use was first recorded in 1429 in \u201cMirour of Mans Saluacioune\u201d, according to the\u00a0Oxford English Dictionary<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, the word has been adapted over time to also mean \u201cfiguratively\u201d as an exaggeration tool. This definition became so popular that even Merriam-Webster <\/em>said uncle in 1909. Grossman continues, \u201cThe fact that literally is \u2018often used hyperbolically\u2019 was first mentioned in Merriam-Webster\u2019s<\/em> entry of the word in its 1909 unabridged dictionary.\u201d Their TikTok (and yes, Merriam-Webster <\/em>has a TikTok page) even jokingly acknowledges it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The \u201cin effect; virtually\u201d meaning of \u2018literally\u2019 is not a new sense. It has been in regular use since the 18th century and may be found in the writings of Mark Twain, Charlotte Bront\u00eb, James Joyce, and many others.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But imagine how confusing this might be for someone just learning English. On the BBC Learning English TikTok page, a guy named Tim simply asks, \u201cDo you know the newer meaning of \u2018literally?\u2019 You may know the original meaning\u2026\u201d and gives an example: \u201cI literally live right next door to my work. I go out of my door and it\u2019s right there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continues, \u201cBut in everyday English, \u2018literally\u2019 has an opposite meaning and is used to exaggerate what you\u2019re saying.\u201d He opens a refrigerator door. \u201cI\u2019m literally starving, I haven\u2019t eaten since breakfast. Ugh, my head is literally exploding, I\u2019ve done so much studying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siobhan Wood writes in \u201cUse and Abuse of the Word Literally \u2013 A Crisis of Language?\u201d\u00a0that these changes in definitions aren\u2019t totally uncommon and can evolve as new generations take hold. \u201cThis change, and the inclusion of new terms in the dictionary, is nothing to be afraid of; it\u2019s been happening since the beginning of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wood adds that the Internet helps to speed up these changes and make words evolve even more quickly than they once did. \u201cThe late 20th and early 21st centuries saw countless language changes: the Internet, computers, and globalization have all provided catalysts for new word meanings. The word spam is a perfect example of language change: originally a portmanteau of \u2018spiced ham\u2019 to describe a British processed meat product, its primary meaning now describes unwanted digital communications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"spam,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The TikTok comments under the Merriam-Webster <\/em>clip are funny, as they just roll with the new normal The video has a photo of musician Bruce Hornsby at a piano with the song \u201cThat\u2019s Just the Way It Is\u201d playing underneath a chyron reading, \u201cWhen people ask us why \u2018literally\u2019 has two different meanings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One commenter writes, \u201cI\u2019m not letting y\u2019all gaslight me into using literally figuratively.\u201d Another quotes a Coen Brothers comedy to share their frustration: \u201cIn the words of Edwina Ed McDunnough from Raising Arizona<\/em>: that ain\u2019t no answer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLiterally, I died. Dead. I\u2019m dead. Literally. Omg, for real.\u201d This was overheard last week, and it wasn\u2019t said by a dead ghost. It was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/787102075_1873631950677194_8343589555465060498_n.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11679,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11677\/revisions\/11679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}