This is an entry in the Saturday series of Timeless & Timely called âOff the Clock,â for paying subscribers. This is where we focus on words, a quirk of history or literature, or something just plain fun.
If youâve spent any time interacting with any humans in recent years â particularly those who skew youngish â you will have undoubtedly heard them use the word âliterally.â
Such as describing their reaction to a situation by saying, âI was literally dead.â
And you, as word nerd that you are, reflexively cringed (is there another reaction when you realize it?) at this unironic use of the word (the use of âironicâ is a topic for another day).
If someone was literally dead, then alert the media, for you have a latter-day Lazarus on your hands.
As you already surmised, dear reader, they meant âfiguratively.â
But have you ever heard someone say, âI was figuratively deadâ?
I didnât think so.
In Dreyerâs English, Benjamin Dreyer has the following to say about âliterallyâ:
âA respectable word that has been distorted into the Intensifier from Hell. No, you did not literally die laughing. No, I donât care that all your cool friends use âliterallyâ thus. If all your cool friends literally jumped off the Empire State Building, would you?â*
*I have now officially become my mother.
In case you missed it, Benjamin Dreyer was our latest guest on the Timeless Leadership podcast.
As much as we throw around the L word (no, not the Showtime series), itâs worth exploring some literally literal words.
That is, the literal meaning of foreign words that have been integrated into English. For example, when a Japanese samurai practices the ritual suicide by sword called hara kiri, it is literally a âbelly cut.â
When someone is issued a subpoena, it must be obeyed âunder penalty.â
And an orangutan is Malay for âman of the woods.â
Here are some other common foreign phrases that have made their way into the English language, and their literal meanings. And stay tuned later on: thereâs bonus content you literally wonât want to miss.
A cappelaÂ
Italian: Sung without instrumental accompaniment (literally âin chapel styleâ)
Carte blancheÂ
French: Complete freedom to act as one wishes (literally âblank paperâ)
Cognoscenti
Italian: People who are well informed about something (literally âpeople who knowâ)
DĂŠjĂ vu
French: The sense of having experienced the present situation before (literally âalready seenâ)
Ăminence grise
French:Â A person who has power or influence without holding an official position (literally âgrey eminenceâ)
Faux pas
French: An embarrassing blunder or indiscretion (literally âfalse stepâ)
Non sequitur
Latin: A conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous statement (literally âit does not followâ)
Quid pro quo
Latin: A favor or advantage given in return for something (literally âsomething for somethingâ)
Savoir faire
French: The ability to act appropriately in social situations (literally âknow how to doâ)
Zeitgeist
German: The characteristic spirit or mood of a particular historical period (literally âtime spiritâ)
And there we have it! Literally ten phrases and their literal meanings.
Bonus
And now hereâs that bonus content I promised.
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