I disagree. Joyce is imitating Lily's way of speaking (free indirect speech), and if nothing else, it shows us that "literally" must have been used coloquially at the turn of the century, and most likely earlier as well. Which was my point.
The first time I heard it misused was when a teen told me about The Dress (remember that, the dress where people couldn’t tell its colours) and called it traumatic.
No, it's been in dictionaries as an intensifier for hundreds of years too. It's mostly in our lifetime that people have pretended it only means one thing.
It was only briefly fought against as an intensifier at the same time a handful of British academics invented Latin-style grammar for English that has never existed in previous use.
Remember that most claims of "correct English" are the inventions of priveleged elites.
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James D. Nicoll
It's a living language and I'm all for craft in its use. Hell, I even think some of the bs "rules" ended up providing some good tools.
The only way someone can be "wrong" in English is when the idea is not to expressed to the intended audience; everything else is masturbatory.
The misused word that bugs me the most is prodigal. People only know the word in the context of “the prodigal son returns” so they use it to refer to someone who left and comes back— but it means wasteful or extravagant.
That’s interesting, I always read “nonplussed” as “brought to a stand”, such as through irony or astonishment, or other inability to react, in every usage. I learned all my language from context in books so no idea why I never distinguished between that and usage meaning “to refrain from reacting”.
Comments
We could literally be that guy and fight to keep the literal meaning of literally intact. 😉
I vaguely remembered the story
It upset quite a few people's perception of reality.
So traumatic
😉
Remember that most claims of "correct English" are the inventions of priveleged elites.
-James D. Nicoll
The only way someone can be "wrong" in English is when the idea is not to expressed to the intended audience; everything else is masturbatory.