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A comment on Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTube” (2005). Parent comment

Re:Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTub... by kzrdude on Sunday September 05, 2021 @01:33PM (#28426044)
The word verbatim is admittedly a bit latin-tasting, but doesn't it literally mean the same thing? :)
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Re:Larry Page: “I think we should look into acquiring YouTub... by TheDong on Sunday September 05, 2021 @03:18PM (#28426938)
I do not believe that it does.

Literally is used to distinguish figurative speech from literal speech, while verbatim is used to distinguish exact wording from paraphrasing.

For example, if I had temporarily lost my voice and couldn't talk, and someone texted "want to call", if I replied "I can't talk right now", they would assume I meant I was busy, but if I replied "I literally can't talk right now", that would accurately convey that I was in situation where talking wasn't possible, not merely busy. "I verbatim can't talk right now" is nonsense.

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