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Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy by DrammBA on Friday October 27, 2023 @11:47AM (#38040062)
> I'm literally dead right now

Is that figurative speech?

Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy by falsaberN1 on Friday October 27, 2023 @12:22PM (#38040546)
Yes. Definitely.

If I say "I literally broke my arm" after I actually broke my arm, that use is completely correct. But you cannot be literally dead and still type a message, unless it's an automated message that you ordered someone/something to send AFTER you died.

Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy by function_seven on Friday October 27, 2023 @12:44PM (#38040786)
If I'm on my regular nightly haunting mission, and I decide to speak to the new owner of the house that I'm haunting, how do I convey to them that I am really, actually, truly dead? I could say, "I'm literally dead", but they would think I'm laughing at their joke they just made!

If the answer to this is to avoid the word "literally", and instead replace it with "really, actually, truly" (like I did above), then I might just decide to retire from haunting.

Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy by falsaberN1 on Friday October 27, 2023 @06:10PM (#38044653)
You obtain "literally dead" privileges if you are a ghost, too, of course.

OMG A GOAST SO SPOOKY

Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy by dllthomas on Friday October 27, 2023 @11:10PM (#38046735)
Of course.

Would you be less likely to interpret it as such if the speaker has omitted "literally"?

I would say that that is an example of hyperbole. "I am so figuratively dead right now it's as if I am literally dead." The meaning of literally, there, remains intact.

In the same way, when someone complains that you left them waiting for "days" we don't say "sometimes days means ten minutes" but that sometimes people exaggerate.