My dear friend Michael ruined my night the other day by pointing out to me how Google’s automatic definition giver tackles the word “literally.”
lit·er·al·ly/ˈlitərəlē/Adverb
1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: “the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle”.
2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.
What the hell, Google. You are literally killing me with this horseshit second definition business.
In other news, I find it a little uncomfortable to tick off “the power of America’s example” in a list of our virtues literally minutes after expounding on the oft-neglected qualities of George W. Bush. Oy gevalt.