# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 69
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1361 "2024-02-26T02:12:49Z")
@Sylvanz Oh yeah, just like chomping on a wad of aluminum foil. It is to cringe. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1362 "2024-02-26T02:14:04Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Yep. **Sylvanz** is being a real word-Oppenheimer. Now I am become Death, LITERALLY the destroyer of worlds. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1363 "2024-02-26T02:17:49Z")
Not if we’re literally talking about “Hitlers”. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1364 "2024-02-26T02:21:01Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > I am a grandma, but I am not your grandma. So straiten up and show some respect…jr. > Just to be clear, and seriously. Was that supposed to be an insult? Nothing against grandmas here. I think you got the message, +1 if “straiten” was intentional. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1365 "2024-02-26T02:24:27Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > I really dislike, “Hoooha COMMON SENSE!!!111” And yet… > [@Sylvanz](#): > > This person is obvs talking about john hitler in Brazil. Not adolph hitler who killed millions and used language very similar to the poison immigrants thing. Good to know. So “common sense, duh” is only fine when you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1366 "2024-02-26T02:25:51Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > Come on, y’all. The problem is that we had a perfectly good word, _figuratively_, “used to indicate a departure from a literal use of words, metaphorically.” If the vernacular replaces “figuratively” with what is essentially its opposite, what word are we going to use when we literally mean “literally?” ISTM to be sloppy thinking. Your problem is the assumption that “literally” is being used to mean “figuratively”. It is not. It is being used as an intensifier. “They make my head _figuratively_ explode” does not work as an intensifier. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1367 "2024-02-26T03:24:09Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Your problem is the assumption that “literally” is being used to mean “figuratively”. It is not. It is being used as an intensifier. “They make my head _figuratively_ explode” does not work as an intensifier. No, the intensifier _du jour_ is **fucking**. As in “They make my head _fucking_ explode.” My “problem” is that I’ve been watching outtakes of DJT’s performance at CPAC and I’m in a really pissy mood. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1368 "2024-02-26T03:28:11Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > No, the intensifier _du jour_ is **fucking**. As in “They make my head _fucking_ explode.” You know who else made people’s heads _fucking_ explode? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1369 "2024-02-26T03:31:13Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > The problem is that we had a perfectly good word, _figuratively_, “used to indicate a departure from a literal use of words, metaphorically.” If the vernacular replaces “figuratively” with what is essentially its opposite, what word are we going to use when we literally mean “literally?” ISTM to be sloppy thinking. And this is why I hate the use of “literally” to mean “figuratively”. Now there is _literally_ no word that means “literally”. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1370 "2024-02-26T04:03:36Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > You know who else made people’s heads _fucking_ explode? Walter White? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1371 "2024-02-26T04:09:50Z")
Literally Adolphin Hitler [![](https://preview.redd.it/0mvy9c154so01.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8a995f1abb8e6975b5b44601d4e660792b3db8e1) ](https://preview.redd.it/0mvy9c154so01.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8a995f1abb8e6975b5b44601d4e660792b3db8e1) ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1372 "2024-02-26T04:22:22Z")
Nope. My mistake. I freely admit my mistakes in spelling, grammar, and word use. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1373 "2024-02-26T04:22:58Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Now there is _literally_ no word that means “literally”. Literally literally still means literally. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1374 "2024-02-26T04:25:59Z")
I also don’t buy that any of you are literally confused when people use “literally” in this way. Rather, these complaints are an expression of this sentiment: [![](https://matthewsavides.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/abe-simpson.gif) ](https://matthewsavides.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/abe-simpson.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1375 "2024-02-26T04:30:48Z")
OK, if that is common sense I suppose. _I_, however, didn’t claim it was,“common sense.” I think common sense is a vague if handy way to blow people off. I said that it seemed pretty obvious to at least me, I guess, that if we’re claiming someone is an authoritarian dictator named hitler, we’re probably talking about the famous guy. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1376 "2024-02-26T04:33:45Z")
Scanners, that’s who, and that was pretty literal too. In a movie way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1377 "2024-02-26T04:37:59Z")
I don’t recall anyone agin’ the arguably incorrect use of literally as confusing. Irritating and incorrect, but not confusing. I really hate it when my posts line up like that. 🫢 ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1378 "2024-02-26T04:41:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Now I am become Death, LITERALLY the destroyer of worlds. Wait, wasn’t that supposed to be “destroyer of words”? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1379 "2024-02-26T05:01:10Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > _I_, however, didn’t claim it was,“common sense.” I think common sense is a vague if handy way to blow people off. I said that it seemed pretty obvious to at least me, I don’t see much daylight between “X is common sense” and “X seemed pretty obvious, at least to me”. I used the phrase “common sense” because I felt it echoed the same sentiment invoked by “seemed pretty obvious”. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1380 "2024-02-26T16:09:13Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Now there is _literally_ no word that means “literally”. _Actually_… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=68) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=70)