How do you tell the outtakes from the takes accepted?
That was my answer!
No joke, people who use “literally” as an intensifier really are the dumbest people imaginable. It’s seriously not just lazy writing, it’s actually a form of genuine brain damage.
Are you saying that anyone who uses “actually” as an intensifier is exhibiting brain damage? Or that they are damaging your brain when you are forced to read their writing?
Actually, I’m not sure.
It’s really a brain-twister, isn’t it? Truly impossible to know what someone is thinking when they use adverbs as intensifiers, especialy adverbs based on adjectives like “true,” “actual,” “real,” or “literal.”
Aren’t all intensifiers necessarily adverbs? Or do you subscribe to a less traditional English word classification?
If Abraham Maslow were alive today, he’d come up with the theory of self-literalization.
I can’t think of a way to use “actually” as an intensifier. Unless “as a matter of fact” is considered an intensifier. You know what? Never mind, it’s probably the brain damage talking. 
Ahhh, I fucked up the joke. I changed the first “actually” to “literally” to fix it.
Since I threw out the word actually, it wasn’t as an “intensifier”, but rather in response to the lament that there is no word we can use to mean “literally” anymore.
“Actually” is still used when something literally happened, as in it really did occur. No confusion; easy peasy.
Works for me. I’ve surrendered in the “literally” war.
It’s close, but it’s not always identical. Imagine someone grasped his own tongue (dumb example, but it’s been a long day). “He literally held his tongue” doesn’t convey the same meaning as “He actually held his tongue”.
You have a point here. Saying a person “literally” held their tongue would mean that a person reached up and grabbed their tongue with their hand. Saying they “actually” held their tongue could mean that, or could mean they “actually” took the step of “figuratively” holding their tongue and choosing not to speak on an issue.
The word “literally” still means “literally.” Rub two fucking brain cells together and you can figure out whether it’s being used as an intensifier or literally. Like I said above, millions to hundreds of millions of people use this word and seemingly have no issue figuring out what meaning is meant, and yet the high-IQ literati of the SDMB apparently can’t figure it out. I’ve only seen one example in all the dozens of hashed and rehashed threads on everyone’s favorite English language bugbear where there could have been some ambiguity in what sense of the word was meant.
I REFUSE to give up on literally! I recall one night when a local reporter on television said an athelete was “Literally on fire.” I grew sore roth and shouted at my set.
I am I Doctor Cathode, a Son Of The Ether- my destiny calls and I go! (and I can’t remember enough other lyrics to do a whole song. But you get my point. I’m going to put on my chrome armor, pick up my lucite lance and go into battle.
Are you literally refusing literally or figuratively?
This far and no farther! A line must be drawn here!
Rub two brain cells together and you can find a more appropriate “intensifier.” No one is confused. NO one. It is simply the wrong word used for the wrong purpose. Quit standing that “confused” strawman up.
When most of the population uses a word in a certain way, that way is not wrong. It’s just another usage.
Cite? Specifically that most of the population of English speakers use literally in this way.