# I think a job just literally fell in my lap **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083 "2014-06-05T01:48:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/1 "2014-06-05T01:48:51Z")
I’m just sitting here in my pjs, avoiding my homework and thinking about how annoying one of my coworkers is when I get a message on facebook from my dog trainer. Apparently she has gotten so busy that she is actually losing business because she can’t keep up with the phone calls. She hired someone to help with the phones but the girl is somehow managing to screw up the job. She said she needs someone who can do the job properly. In other words, she said she needs me. The job comes with a phone (Samsung Galaxy) and a plan (Verizon) and basically requires either answering the calls when they come in or returning them in a timely manner (because I can’t answer the phone when I’m in class or clinical). I have no idea what it pays but I can do it anywhere at any time which means it really wont interfere with pretending I don’t have anything to study. 😃 I’m going to meet with her on Friday. I’m very excited. I love my job but hate certain aspects of it and when it’s not summer vacation I basically work 6 hours a week; just enough to make enough money to pay for gas to get to and from school. It would be really nice to not have to work in retail for the last year of school. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/2 "2014-06-05T02:31:48Z")
That sounds great. Hope the pay is what you expect. Sounds perfect! ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/3 "2014-06-05T02:39:35Z")
Hell, as long as it’s at least $50 per week I could conceivably quit my job. 😃 I suspect that I’ll continue both for the summer at the very least though. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/4 "2014-06-05T03:43:16Z")
You missed the part where something - anything - literally fell into your lap … ? ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/5 "2014-06-05T03:55:56Z")
Well, the job came through my computer, which was on my lap. 😃 I don’t even remember typing the word literally. I must have been too excited to notice what my fingers were doing. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/6 "2014-06-05T04:43:06Z")
I literally just read this thread, and responded to it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/7 "2014-06-05T04:59:51Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I literally just read this thread, and responded to it. I literally see what you did there. So you might want to change your webcam settings. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/8 "2014-06-06T02:10:53Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > I don’t even remember typing the word literally. I must have been too excited to notice what my fingers were doing. OK, so you did it fingeratively? ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/9 "2014-06-06T05:50:41Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > OK, so you did it fingeratively? Nah. Digitally. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/10 "2014-06-06T18:31:00Z")
That happened to me once. I was at a job about a month and one day there was a surprise massive layoff, about 1/3 of the company- around 70 people. I survived it. That night I said to my wife, “man- that’s terrible. I feel so bad for those people. I really do not want to be out there looking again. You know, it would be great if next time, someone would just call and offer me a job. Can you imagine!?!?” About 6 months later, that’s exactly what happened. An acquaintance from a few years back knew what I did and he had an opening for exactly my skillset, and he called with a job offer. More money, better company. I’m still here. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/11 "2014-06-06T18:38:24Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > You missed the part where something - anything - literally fell into your lap … ? One of the more amusing aspects of the pedanticism surrounding usages of literally is that literal comes from the latin for literalis meaning “of or belonging to letters or writing” so the meaning of “without exaggeration” is already a metaphorical extension of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/12 "2014-06-06T18:43:39Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > One of the more amusing aspects of the pedanticism surrounding usages of literally is that literal comes from the latin for literalis meaning “of or belonging to letters or writing” so the meaning of “without exaggeration” is already a metaphorical extension of the word. Are we speaking Latin? No. So what the word meant in Latin is irrelevant to what it means in English. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-a-job-just-literally-fell-in-my-lap/690083/13 "2014-06-06T18:57:45Z")
The word literalis came into english from latin through French and _in english_moved from meaning “of or belonging to letters or writing” to “true without exaggeration or hyperbole”. And then a new meaning of a general intensifier was added. I find it funny that people have no problem with the first shift but the second shift is untenable.