Comments on: Stating the Obvious http://aaeblog.com/2007/12/14/stating-the-obvious/ "Austro" as in Rothbard and Wittgenstein, "Athenian" as in Aristotle and smashing-the-plutocracy. Fri, 25 May 2012 10:40:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Administrator http://aaeblog.com/2007/12/14/stating-the-obvious/comment-page-1/#comment-62348 Administrator Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:05:19 +0000 http://praxeology.net/blog/2007/12/14/stating-the-obvious/#comment-62348 One of my college roommates used to mock/combat the misuse of "literally" by saying things like "there were <i>hundreds</i>! literally <i>dozens</i>! of them...." One of my college roommates used to mock/combat the misuse of “literally” by saying things like “there were hundreds! literally dozens! of them….”

]]> By: Micha Ghertner http://aaeblog.com/2007/12/14/stating-the-obvious/comment-page-1/#comment-62290 Micha Ghertner Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:07:08 +0000 http://praxeology.net/blog/2007/12/14/stating-the-obvious/#comment-62290 Another word with similar ironic usage (ironic in that it is used to mean the exact opposite of the obvious, literal definition) is "literally." Some examples... from this very blog! <i>Wallace concludes that Rand’s philosophy, while intended as a celebration of rationality, ends up undermining it – it is “literally a house built on sand.” (I presume the word “literally” is being used non-literally here.)</i> - <a href="http://praxeology.net/unblog02-03.htm#08" rel="nofollow">Satanic Epistemology?</a> <i>Did Olbermann just say that the idea of Harry Potter “literally popped into her [J. K. Rowling’s] head”? Sounds painful. Or maybe he was using the term “literally” non-literally.</i> - <a href="http://praxeology.net/blog/2007/07/20/harry-popper/" rel="nofollow">Harry Popper</a> Another word with similar ironic usage (ironic in that it is used to mean the exact opposite of the obvious, literal definition) is “literally.” Some examples… from this very blog!

Wallace concludes that Rand’s philosophy, while intended as a celebration of rationality, ends up undermining it – it is “literally a house built on sand.” (I presume the word “literally” is being used non-literally here.)
- Satanic Epistemology?

Did Olbermann just say that the idea of Harry Potter “literally popped into her [J. K. Rowling’s] head”? Sounds painful. Or maybe he was using the term “literally” non-literally.
- Harry Popper

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