Literally

Last week I heard a Pentagon spokeswoman use irregardless in a press conference I guess she was representing military intelligence.

ah . . . military intelligence . . . just about my favorite oxymoron . . .

Yes, Booman. Your point is well taken.

Are these the same persons who keep using:

"Having said that."

and

"Sooner rather than later."

I literally hate that.

I virtually hate that . . . does that count?

and sometimes they say "needless to say".

It its literally a pain in the arse!

If I hear another trifecta metaphor for politics, I will need to buy a fresh supply of air sick bags.

Well Roger, it literally goes without saying....................................

Ain't that the smeggin' truth?

roger, old bean, methinks thou hath spent too smeggin' much time alistenin' to deb.

Just me 'umble opinion.



deb

Ain't that the smeggin' truth?

I'm figuratively sitting on my ass right now.

Oh, wait. Scratch that. It's literal.

"At this point in time," too. Uh, how 'bout "NOW"?

My personal pet peeve: very unique (or somewhat unique)

You beat me to it
Bandylu2,

I was just getting ready to post something about "unique" and how people say, "very unique," or "the most unique," but you beat me to it.

And I must protest the abuse of the word "hopefully." It seems that everyone says, "Well, hopefully, they'll finish soon." No one seems to use it in its correct context (e.g., "Hopefully she answered the phone.") But then, the English language is hardly static-- word meanings are constantly evolving. I read in one of Bill Bryson's books that the word "nice" used to mean the opposite of what it means today and that "awful" used to mean "full of awe." (Just thought of another one: "exact opposite." But then perhaps "exact" is added for emphasis, even though it's redundant!!)

Has anyone read Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue? Excellent!

ailsa

I'm literally beside myself, and both of me go nuts when we hear literally used incorrectly.

As for unique, Bandylu and Ailsagirl, take a gander at this:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17175

does "orientated" bug anyone?

At the end of the day and run up to the war are grinding away at me these days.