literally turned our backs
September 2nd, 2006 by Fitz
Brian Rush writes:
A Central Valley town rekindles a love affair with its river
“As a city, we literally turned our backs to the river for a long time,” says Doni Greenberg, a columnist for the Redding Record Searchlight. “But now we’re recognizing it for the recreational gem it is.
I can just imagine the population of Redding standing on the banks of the river with their backs to it.
September 2nd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
That would have been a beautiful illustration to go with the article.
October 10th, 2006 at 8:24 am
I notice that literally is always used when something is NOT literally true, just as honestly bespeaks dishonesty and sincerely, insincerity.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
I’m not sure how much of a mistake this is. If the columnist means the people didn’t pay much attention to the river, it may be the case that while doing so, the populace did indeed *literally* turn its backs on the river. If you don’t pay much attention to something you may end up not physically facing it much. Things you do pay attention to might command your gaze as well.
That being said, this site is fantastic. I hate it when people incorrectly use this word, so when I found this site I literally “wet my pants”. Oh. Well, not literally just figuratively.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:08 am
Can we “as a city” literally do any thing? It seems to me that considering a group of people “as a city” is already treading on the toes of metaphor.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:03 pm
[…] language grammar blog tracking abuse of the word “literally.” Here is a sample post: literally turned our backs September 2nd, 2006 by Fitz Brian Rush writes: […]
March 4th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
I see them all edging along, going about their day to day business without ever facing in whichever direction the river is…