Literally

[kirisutogomen]

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushing for year-round schools:

Children, he said, "get to a certain point academically in June and over the summer, they lose that."

By September, he said, "it's literally taking a step backward."

Arne Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, was appointed CEO of the Chicago Public Schools in 2001, and then was named Secretary of Education for these United States by President Barack Obama. And he doesn't know what the word "literally" means.

Usually I just grit my teeth and move on. But this guy is the fucking head of education for the country. Apparently because he plays basketball with the President rather than for any sort of relevant abilities.

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On a lighter note:

Today, I was flirting via text with a coworker. Things started getting heated, and I wanted to send her a sexy picture. I asked if she had any suggestions. She said, "Your nuts!" [...] I sent her a photo of my junk.

Comments

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

First, I wondered when something counts as new usage instead of wrong usage. Then, I wondered how new it actually was. The OED seems to date this improper usage back to 1687. ("Now often improperly used to indicate that some conventional metaphorical or hyperbolical phrase is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense. (So, e.g., in quot. 1863.))

(The quotation from 1863 was someone who said he was "literally coining money" when presumably he was just making an excessive profit.)

[psychohist.livejournal.com]

He was using "literally" figuratively.

Not that I don't agree with you. A secretary of education ought to be pedantic.