Literally

[David]

I don't know who else has noticed this word being used in entirely the wrong context. The worst thing is, the main offenders are newspaper writers, who should really know better

The annoying thing is I've seen it misused on many occasions in the Herald Sun and at the moment can't think of one quote that backs this up. So I'll just link to a webpage I found that has some good examples (from elsewhere):
http://literally.barelyfitz.com/
By the way, I can't believe someone devoted an entire blog to it

For those who don't know, literally means it is actually the case, usually when referring to metaphors. So if you say a football player is literally a star, you are saying he is a big ball of gas in outer space.

[Pa Marmo]

David you will also see them using "an" before a "h" that isn’t silent. Seeing they can’t be truthfully correct they should be at least grammatically correct.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Yes, very annoying DFC. I also find these 'americanisms' creeping into our language very annoying such as stop it 'already' or the word 'period' being used to describe an ending or full stop.

A little off topic here but annoying nonetheless and the one that bugs me most with the Yanks (fortunately not used here) is the use of 'I am too' or 'you are too' instead of 'I am so' or 'you are so'

[Robert Walls (not really)]

how about "like"

"like, you know, like"

[Cathalyst]

[David]

There is only one sun Cathalyst. True, the word star has almost come to mean something different, but if you say someone is "literally a star" then you could only really mean one thing. The funny thing is I don't even know if anyone has ever used that expression

[Cathalyst]

[David]

I was under the impression that the Sun is only our Sun because it is the star around which OUR solar system revolves. Every other star, is a star.

By the way I think it's silly for people to refer to our solar system as a "backwater" or use terms like that. From the way we look at it, it's the most important solar system in the universe, obviously, just as Earth is the most important planet in the solar system, to us.

As for star having different meanings, the reason I said it only means one thing is because star in the sense of a sports player derives from the word star, and is used in a metaphorical sense. A word that truly has several meanings is "like", which can be a synonym for "to enjoy" or "similar to"

Sorry if I'm starting to sound like a wank*r but this stuff interests me for some reason.

[Cathalyst]

Wrong again, stars are suns, has nothing to do with just being ours.
And backwater is a very accurate representation of where we are in the galaxy, hidden away in a very insignificant corner of it in relation to the giant black hole at the centre of it, thats the view of astronomers, not mine

[David]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Astronomers would say that because they're looking at it in context of everything in the universe. All I'm saying is, from our point of view (our = every human being who has ever lived) it is the most important solar system there is so unless we can go and trade it for a bigger better solar system we should be happy with what we've got

[Cathalyst]

[pica]

[Cathalyst]

[David]

To be honest I can never get seperate/separate right. But the word that bugs me the most is necessary. Seriously that one is a nightmare. I automatically spell it nesseccary and have to correct myself each time. I think if you look through some of my older posts you'll also see "critiscism" appear a fair bit. The first S shouldn't be there

[HAL]

You are a good speller.