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Quoting David Goldman:-
"As an example, allow me to talk about the word 'literally' - long story short is that today the word 'literally' is used incorrectly to mean the exact opposite to 'literally'. This change has been recorded in several dictionaries so now the word has two meanings, exact opposites to each other. How did this change come about? Hundreds of thousands of (mostly American) children with poor education and limited intelligence used the word so often it came to mean the opposite. This may seem to some as democracy in action; language changing to reflect the people using it. But in essence is the power of mass stupidity that has made this change with absolutely no benefit to society. And so it is with many seemingly popular choices, that they reflect the will of the people. However, as the example shows, just because many people believe one thing, that can still be a stupid thing".
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aniki
Howard
SwissChap
literally
/ˈlɪt(ə)rəli/Submit
adverb
in a literal manner or sense; exactly.
"the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the roundabout"
synonyms: verbatim, word for word, line for line, letter for letter, to the letter; More
INFORMAL
used for emphasis while not being literally true.
"I was literally blown away by the response I got"
AAARGHH! This is the one that gets me. I can understand words changing their meaning over time, but how can you fuck with the word literally?! Can't we just carry on dismissing people using the word for emphasis as being, like, wrong?