MELVINPD
June 23rd, 2009, 6:40 pm
Picture this. Sean is on a great topic and building steam in his monologue or dialogue. The momentum is gaining, his voice is rising, pitch is getting higher, and then the slight pregnant pause begins and the word "literally" comes out only to be followed with no less than 6 more literally's in the next sentence or two. My focus shifts from the topic at hand to wondering how many times he's said "literally" today and cringe in anticipation for the coming stream of "literally's" much as I cringed every time Bush said "nucular."
Does anyone else feel this way?
I have taken the time to copy and paste synonyms from an online Thesaurus for you and would appreciate hearing these more often and give the word literally a break. Overuse of a strong adverb can appear to be an attempt to beat one side of an issue into listeners' heads and in fact, have the polar opposite effect.
actually (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/actually), completely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/completely), correctly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/correctly), direct (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/direct), directly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/directly), faithfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/faithfully), indisputably, letter by letter, literatim, not figuratively, plainly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/plainly), precisely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/precisely), really (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/really), rightly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/rightly), rigorously, sic, simply (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/simply), straight (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/straight), strictly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/strictly), to the letter, truly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truly), undeviatingly, undisputably, unerringly, unmistakably, verbatim (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/verbatim), veritably
Synonyms for "exactly" also work in a lot of situations; yah some do overlap but I'm too lazy to edit them out.
absolutely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/absolutely), altogether (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/altogether), bang (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/bang)*, carefully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/carefully), completely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/completely), correctly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/correctly), definitely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/definitely), explicitly, expressly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/expressly), faithfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/faithfully), faultlessly, for a fact, for certain, for sure (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/for%20sure)*, in every respect, indeed (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/indeed), just (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/just), literally (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/literally), methodically, no mistake, on the dot, on the money, on the nail, on the nose (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/on%20the%20nose)*, positively (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/positively), precisely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/precisely), quite (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/quite), right (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/right), rigorously, scrupulously (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/scrupulously), severely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/severely), sharp (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/sharp), specifically (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/specifically), square (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/square), strictly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/strictly), the ticket, totally (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/totally), truly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truly), truthfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truthfully), unequivocally, unerringly, utterly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/utterly), veraciously, wholly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/wholly)
But ultimately the shift needs to be more content and well constructed sentences, less adverbs. And stop beating up the word literally please!
Does anyone else feel this way?
I have taken the time to copy and paste synonyms from an online Thesaurus for you and would appreciate hearing these more often and give the word literally a break. Overuse of a strong adverb can appear to be an attempt to beat one side of an issue into listeners' heads and in fact, have the polar opposite effect.
actually (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/actually), completely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/completely), correctly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/correctly), direct (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/direct), directly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/directly), faithfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/faithfully), indisputably, letter by letter, literatim, not figuratively, plainly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/plainly), precisely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/precisely), really (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/really), rightly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/rightly), rigorously, sic, simply (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/simply), straight (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/straight), strictly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/strictly), to the letter, truly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truly), undeviatingly, undisputably, unerringly, unmistakably, verbatim (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/verbatim), veritably
Synonyms for "exactly" also work in a lot of situations; yah some do overlap but I'm too lazy to edit them out.
absolutely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/absolutely), altogether (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/altogether), bang (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/bang)*, carefully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/carefully), completely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/completely), correctly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/correctly), definitely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/definitely), explicitly, expressly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/expressly), faithfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/faithfully), faultlessly, for a fact, for certain, for sure (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/for%20sure)*, in every respect, indeed (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/indeed), just (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/just), literally (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/literally), methodically, no mistake, on the dot, on the money, on the nail, on the nose (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/on%20the%20nose)*, positively (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/positively), precisely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/precisely), quite (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/quite), right (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/right), rigorously, scrupulously (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/scrupulously), severely (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/severely), sharp (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/sharp), specifically (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/specifically), square (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/square), strictly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/strictly), the ticket, totally (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/totally), truly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truly), truthfully (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/truthfully), unequivocally, unerringly, utterly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/utterly), veraciously, wholly (http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/wholly)
But ultimately the shift needs to be more content and well constructed sentences, less adverbs. And stop beating up the word literally please!