Since it’s widely accepted that the word “literally” can be used to add emphasis, we need another word that can be used when you want to make it clear that you really mean “literally” in the original sense.

  • CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca
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    7 days ago

    It’s not just one word. You use the appropriate adjective for the sentence. It’s many words.

    Or just leave out words like literally as they do literally absolutely nothing.

    • howrar@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      Obviously, you use the word that expresses what you intend to express. The question is what that word would be when you want to express “literally” in the strict dictionary definition sense without ambiguity.

      • CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca
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        7 days ago

        Give me an example where using the word literally makes the sentence clearer. For the most part using the word literally is entirely unnecessary, and provides no value.

        • howrar@lemmy.ca
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          6 days ago

          I don’t understand where this question is coming from. The premise of this question is that “literally” is ambiguous. That its meaning is unclear. How does an ambiguous word add clarity to a sentence?

          • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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            6 days ago

            There was a time when Literally was the word we used to eliminate ambiguity. Using it to mean the opposite of its originally intended, and accepted, definition injects ambiguity, the very thing the word is supposed to prevent.

            That’s literally an example of IRONY (another often wrongly used word).

            • howrar@lemmy.ca
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              6 days ago

              OP is asking how to solve a problem. You understand that repeating the problem does not answer the question, right?