Literally speaking

Way to go, Lucas. He found a fine article on "literally" and made me aware of it in his blog.

The article is great! A professional pedant (author Jesse Sheidlower, a dictionary editor) teaches us amateur pedants a thing or two, and drops us down a few pegs. If we take his lesson to heart, we will be more permissive, and accepting, when listening to the hoi polloi. ^[1]

But do I have to extend that acceptance to sportscasters? I mean, if someone is egregiously cavalier in his treatment of English, can't I look down on him just a little?

Not literally look down, of course. Most of them are former athletes, and much bigger than I.




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^[1] Many picky pedants would accuse me of using "hoi polloi" incorrectly here, since "hoi" actually means "the" in Greek. Hence, my use of "the" ahead of "hoi polloi" is redundant. To them I say, nyah, nyah, nyah. By now, they should have read the article to which I linked and lightened up!