Soon this won’t even be seen as a misuse. Dictionaries are already including the non-“literal” definition. Whether it should be so, I’ll leave to all of you.
Indeed. This is an interesting (and enlightening) read: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-literally
Isn't there a t-shirt you can buy that says something like "Misuse of 'literally' drives me metaphorically insane"?
I’d buy one if I didn’t think the joke would be completely wasted on those it was aimed at. Sorry, on those at whom it was aimed.
I'm sorry, but I can't make a donation to your charity or political campaign. Is there any other way I could hel ..... Hello? Hello?
Maybe headphones to listen to music or books? My husband wanders around his daily activities with a set streaming music into his ears. When we first married, he played music on the stereo constantly and it about drove me nuts. Headphones are God's gift to the significant others of musicians. ...on those at whom it was aimed. Things that annoy me but shouldn't: people who correct corrections without being invited.
@Catriona Grace - anything in my inner ear starts to hurt fairly quickly, and I’d look a complete twat in old style over-the-ear headphones. As for your correction of my correction, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Go back and check my post. You somehow misquoted me.
Just spent half an hour trying to apply for the government’s Cycle to Work scheme (you’re given up to £1000 to spend on a bike which you then pay back through something called ‘salary sacrifice’) only to be knocked back because I don’t earn enough. Hold on, if I earned more then perhaps I wouldn’t need your scheme!
Songs such as (I’ve had) The Time of My Life. I don’t know whether it’s because it reminds me of the film Dirty Dancing or because the station we listen to in the van plays it to death, but it’s just so… bleurgghh!! Insipid cringy shite!
Personally I think it is great song but, if a song is continuously played it becomes annoying and gradually you come to dislike it.
I’d say that’s true, but the fact I never tire of songs like Yazoo’s Only You or A-ha’s Take On Me, or Alphaville’s Big in Japan dispute that.
I forbade the DJ at our wedding from playing it. And anything by Bob Segar. He had a playlist of the top 100 wedding songs. I crossed out maybe half of them.
I doubt any of our music was on the top 100 wedding songs of the time. My husband is a retired professional musician (among other things) and so we've always been surrounded by other musicians. He's also a real likeable guy, so when we announced we were getting married, friends came from all over offering pro bono services as a wedding gift. A very good pianist (my own voice teacher) accompanied a friend who is an even better operatic singer for several classical pieces, and the first chair violinist from the state orchestra (his retirement job after retiring from more famous orchestras back east) arrived at the reception, violin in hand, to play hoedown and Irish jig music, of all things. They chose their own music and ran the choices by me. The only song that I actually requested was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, not because I am a Christian (I am emphatically not) but because I like the melody.
We had our ceremony at a wedding chapel. Most Japanese aren't Christian (n0t terribly religious at all) but like the image of the white dress and a white man in a priest's costume overseeing things. Since there's no such thing as "by the power vested in me," all the legal bits take place seated before a civil servant at city hall. You could have a ceremony conducted at midnight in a graveyard by someone dressed as Hello Kitty, wouldn't make a whit of difference. But anyway, they played some Christian songs after we had said our vows. Neither of us are religious, the program (with the lyrics) was in Japanese, and I only vaguely remembered some of the words from when my parents still had the authority to make me go to a church. So I started going "blah blah blah mumble" (literally) in time and tune with the music. Softly, so that only Mrs. A could hear it. And she started to giggle, which one of the ushers interpreted as tears and so rushed over with tissues, which only made it funnier...
Our two official wedding songs were The Humpty Dance and The Lemon Song (I should have quit yoooouuuuu, such a long time agggooooo!). Other songs that I forbade were anything by Celion Dion and The B-52s. Playlist was augmented by a lot of Beastie Boys, Michael Jackson, general Motown, and a few random Pantera and Slayer songs just for shits and grins.
My husband requested La donna è mobile (English lyrics follow; I married him anyway) Women are as fickle as feathers in the wind, simple in speech, and simple in mind. Always the loveable, sweet, laughing face, but laughing or crying, the face is false for sure. If you rely on her you will regret it, and if you trust her you are undone! Yet none can call himself fully contented who has not tasted love in her arms!
