4
I Literally Froze to Death
Here's a picture where it is literally raining cats and dogs. And pitchforks too. George Cruikshank/Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images
Advertisement
Oh really? Then how is it you are alive and able to utter this nonsense?
The word "literal" has a very clear meaning: "actual or without exaggeration." Yet, it is far too often used to add emphasis to a situation and exaggerate a certain scenario that could not possibly be factual: "It was literally raining cats and dogs." "My phone is literally blowing up."
The correct word in these and a whole slew of cases in which you don't really mean literally -- your phone is not a ticking time bomb, or is it? -- is "figuratively." As in, "I was figuratively foaming at the mouth, I was so angry" [source: Grammarist]. But we have to admit, that does sound a little weird.
