The word "literally" does not appear in the article. The submitted title ("Incarceration is literally an epidemic, says Science") was editorialized, so we reverted it to the article title.

Submitters: please read the HN guidelines. They ask you not to change titles unless they're linkbait or misleading.

Because... you're not a misleading person yourself, right?

I try not to be. Did you have something specific in mind?

Its not a metaphor. "Epidemic" is a description of how something behaves, not the mechanism by which it acheives that effect.

If this is your main takeaway, it's your values and priorities that are regrettable. Could you be any less constructive?

Literally also means figuratively (in effect, virtually) now, see definition two: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

Can we please all get together and stop this? The only reason that this was allowed to happen is that a bunch of idiots used the world "literally" incorrectly. It won't be long before "must of" gets into the dictionary along with "prolly".

Forsooth knave, thou dost not graspeth that ye Englyshe language doth ever evolve over yon ages. Let it not vex you.

English is a living language, that's why we don't still speak in Chaucer's Middle English [1]. If you want a perfectly static language, learn Latin.

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/canterbury-tales-wife-bat...