literally stunned
Microsoft takes email design back 5 years
As I type this post I still can’t believe it. I’m literally stunned. If you haven’t already heard, I’m talking about the recent news that Outlook 2007, released next month, will stop using Internet Explorer to render HTML emails and instead use the crippled Microsoft Word rendering engine.
This is could be categorized as “unnecessary”, but I think it’s a weird one to analyze, so I’ll open it up in the comments. What do you think (correct,incorrect, or unnecessary)?
stun –verb
1. to deprive of consciousness or strength by or as if by a blow, fall, etc.: The blow to his jaw stunned him for a moment.
2. to astonish; astound; amaze: Her wit stunned the audience.
3. to shock; overwhelm: The world was stunned by the attempted assassination.
4. to daze or bewilder by noise.
June 30th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I like it best if stunned has the first meaning, making it incorrect (unless the guy actually passed out). Those other meanings are a bit transcendent, derived from the true meaning of being in shock.
It’s sort of like if someone said “I literally become retarded when I hear someone abuse language”. I would take that to mean they “literally become a retard” (incorrect), not that they “literally start acting stupid” (unnecessary).
PS. I love this site… LITERALLY!! (Wow, that doesn’t even begin to make sense.)
August 6th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Unnecessary, but it could possibly be correct based on definition 2.
There are literally thousands of worse examples of blatant misuse of the word literally.
Love that this site is out there!
August 28th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
While I do think she truly was stunned, by definition 2 or 3, I don’t think she was using literally in it’s basic meaning of “not figuratively” because, leave the word out, and it’s not like we’d imagine she was figuratively stunned. (Not unless we are thinking of defintion one, but, then, she was not actually stunned by that definition.)
September 25th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I think it’s probably an okay usage of the word stunned, although it’s unnecessary as Ellen said. More importantly, though, who would be literally stunned (or care) that Microsoft is changing its format of Outlook 2007? Doesn’t one become stunned when something a bit more serious occurs, such as when Pearl Harbor was attacked or finding out your girlfriend is cheating on you (wait, it’s doubtful this guy has a girlfriend). Let’s hope Microsoft engineers don’t change things up too much lest this guy figuratively have a cow.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
[...] See also: literally stunned [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
“such as when Pearl Harbor was attacked or finding out your girlfriend is cheating on you (wait, it’s doubtful this guy has a girlfriend). Let’s hope Microsoft engineers don’t change things up too much lest this guy figuratively have a cow.”
Well, if his girlfriend *is* a cow, he could literally “have” a cow. Or less sexual – it shocked him so much he could make him slip into a steak eating frenzy – he could “have a cow” sans lips and horn, we hope.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Incorrect. Because he added the “literally,” it implied that he was physically stunned.