These dire images make us feel dreadful—quite literally.
Coming across the above sentence in a book recently was the highlight of an otherwise dreadful (not meant literally) evening. Why? If you’ve read books about writing or taken a creative-writing class, you’ve probably witnessed a writer or editor or writing teacher turn up a nose at the use of the word literally. It has become such a literary bugaboo that its very appearance makes many people who think they know a lot about writing shudder. But here’s the thing: literally is in the dictionary. So rather than making the word taboo, how about we just be careful to use it properly?
What made me geekily giddy about the aforementioned sentence? The writer used literally not only correctly, but also in a way that was witty and not extraneous. I shall now use the trite gimmick of giving you a word’s dictionary definition, courtesy of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition
literally: adv. 1: in a literal sense or manner : actually [took the remark ~ ] [was ~ insane] 2: in effect : virtually [will ~ turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice] —Norman Cousins
Whoa there… Let me go back and read number 2 again. Their example is “will literally turn the world upside down”?! But that flies in the face of everything I’ve ever heard, or thought I was really intellectual for knowing!
The truth is, while writing gurus often think the first definition is the only valid one, the second has been in common use for centuries, as an article on Slate.com points out. Language evolves over time, whether we like it or not, and for some reason, literally has become an adverb that modifies both words and phrases that mean precisely what they say, and idioms or metaphors that mean something entirely different from what they say, such as “turn the world upside down” above.
The sentence at the top of this post uses the first definition to describe the state of feeling “dreadful.” Dreadful is most commonly used to mean its second dictionary definition: “extremely bad, distasteful, unpleasant, or shocking.” As in, “That meatloaf tasted dreadful.” We don’t mean by this that the meatloaf inspired fear (aka dread) in us. But “inspiring fear” is, in fact, another definition of the word, and the more “literal” one at that. So the phrase at the end of the sentence, “quite literally,” tells us that the “dire images” made the author feel not simply bad, but fearful.
Have I freed you from the constraints of the literally fascists? Good. Because you should be able to use the word as Norman Cousins uses it, to mean the much more flexible “in effect : virtually.” And bad, because if you do so, you risk incurring the wrath of ill-informed copy editors and literary know-it-alls. Your choice, but unless you’re dying to write “My head literally exploded today,” you might want to steer clear. You’ll have enough conflicts and disagreements with the people who read and edit your writing.
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February 2nd, 2007 at 10:13 am
Many respected editors have little or no knowledge of the difference between descriptive and prescriptive dictionaries, grammar and style, or pet peeve learned from high school english teacher and bad usage. Many respected editors have no formal training in copyediting but are apprentices of apprentices of apprentices–or my own dread: really good at grammar as taught in high schools across the country.
But a wise writer will remember that they are the many respected editors, which trumps technically correct or emerging trend every time.