It's called hyperbole and it's perfectly acceptable usage and we all -- every single one of us! -- knew exactly what he meant and dear god am I tired of people using this smug and useless retort.

Lit·er·al·ly/ˈlitərəlē/ Adverb: 1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle". 2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.

Yes, the second definition was added because people lazily try to leverage the first definition to intensify the exaggeration of their figurative statements. The problem is that the second definition now masks the first (because it is essentially a devolved form of the first and actually relies on the first definition), making it difficult in many cases to get across the meaning of the first definition without resorting to other words. I see you've embraced this unfortunate evolution. Some of us are still mourning it.

Language evolves and changes. Please do not bitch about that in unrelated discussions on HN.