The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
…[During Vice President Joe Biden’s speech at the Democratic Convention], we had fun…tallying the number of times the vice president used the word “literally”:
1. “. . . the American people literally stood on the brink of a new depression . . .”
2. “. . . families all over America sitting at their kitchen tables were literally making decisions for their family that were equally as consequential.”
3 and 4. “In the first days, literally the first days that we took office, General Motors and Chrysler were literally on the verge of liquidation.”
5. “When things–when things–when things hung in the balance–when things hung in the balance–I mean, literally hung in the balance–the president understood . . .”
6. Killing Osama bin Laden “was about–literally, it was about–it was about healing an unbearable wound, a nearly unbearable wound in America’s heart.”
7. “President Obama had an unyielding faith in the capacity and the capability of our special forces, literally the finest warriors in the history of the world.”
8. “Folks, Governor Romney believes it’s OK to raise taxes on middle classes by $2,000 in order to pay for another–literally another trillion-dollar tax cut for the very wealthy.”
9. “Look–and it literally amazes me they don’t understand that.
10. “My fellow Americans, we now–we now–and we now find ourselves at the hinge of history. And the direction we turn is not figuratively, is literally in your hands.”
Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6 and 10 are not literal but figurative (notwithstanding Biden’s protestation to the contrary in No. 10). Nos. 2 and 9 are literal, but there is no figurative way of understanding the words, so that it is superfluous. Nos. 3, 7 and 8 are defensible, though he’s using “literal” to say he’s not exaggerating rather than that he’s not speaking figuratively. No. 7 is unfortunate in that the stipulation “literally” suggests Biden expects his audience to harbor some doubt.
What makes this exercise even funnier is the fact that the word “literally” does not appear once–literally!–in the prepared text. All 10 “literallys” were extemporaneous. When Biden says “literally,” it seems, he means “uh.” …
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
