LITERALLY
A correspondent quotes: For the last three years I literally coined money, and, My hair literally stood on end. The common misuse of this word is so absurd that it would not be worth while to protest against it, if its daily appearance in every newspaper did not show that it was tolerated by educated people. Mr. Fowler writes:
'We have come to such a pass with this emphasizer that where the truth would require us to acknowledge our exaggeration with, "not literally, of course, but in a manner of speaking", we do not hesitate to insert the very word that we ought to be at pains to repudiate; such false coin makes honest traffic in words impossible. If the Home Rule Bill is passed, the 300,000 Unionists of the South and West of Ireland will be literally thrown to the wolves. The strong "tête-de-pont" fortifications were rushed by our troops, and a battalion crossed the bridge literally on the enemy's shoulders. In both, practically or virtually, opposites of literally, would have stood.'