The word literally is said by many people of different cultures or backgrounds, Almost everyone probably has said the word literally. In my personal experience I hear females saying the word literally very often. “He literally makes me so mad” I’m literally going to cry” The word seems to be losing its meaning as time persists.

According to google dictionary. The word Literally is an adverb, and literally means “in a literal manner or sense; exactly. If used in a sentence it would be “the driver took it literally when asked to go straight across the traffic circle” On the other hand when used in an informal sense it means used for emphasis or to express strong, feeling while not being literally true. For example “I was literally blown away by the response I got”.The person was not actually blown away she was just giving emphasis to her feelings that it shocked her. The word literally can be used to literally contradict the opposite of itself. To me that’s impressive.

I listened to females mostly say the word literally, and almost all of the time they use it informally. I’ve noticed that men don’t really say the word unless they actually mean what they are saying making it the proper sense. I myself use the word improperly. My question that I am interested in knowing is how and when did this particular word start to lose its actual meaning? What caused the complete opposite of the word to occur? When did society notice this difference? What was society’s reaction to the words meaning being flipped into something different?

I know when Literally was first used according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It was first used properly in 1769. But the information that I’m particularly looking for isn’t very informative on any online platform. It seems to be just many observations and thoughts on how we humans have broken the English language. So my question for all of you wonderful bloggers is to put in your 2 cents here in the comments and let me know how you feel about the word, and when you noticed the meaning becoming something other then the formal sense. I’d love to know what you think:)

I think back to the first grade, when I was being taught how to physically write letters with spaces making them into sentences. I absolutely hated doing the timed math problems to see how fast you can add or subtract, it caused me to have a lot of stress, my mother would yell and get frustrated with me when it came to teaching me math. On the other hand, when it came to me reading or writing I had no problems. I was in kindergarten when I learned how to read, I was so determined to be the first. I was the kid that read books for other kids and too the AR tests for them AR stands for accelerated reading tests. I didn’t do them to be nice, I just loved to read and test my comprehension, the same with writing. Although I did not really start to write until 4th grade. During my 4th grade year a tragic incident happened to where my parents left, My younger brother and I were left with my Nana who had to watch over us. During this time to keep my mind off of the sad or emotional things that I did not really understand I wrote letters and stories and went to the towns local library and read almost everyday. This is where my writing started to develop.

My Nana was the true teacher to my literacy journey. She inspired me to read and write and show me poems that she wrote over her lifetime, and exemplified how I could do the same if I wanted to. She would take me over to her sisters, My Aunt Brenda who had tons of books and writing utensils/tools to give me a good healthy way of dealing with my emotions as well as improving my writing skills.

My brother on the other hand is not so good at reading or writing, same with my father. I believe since they never were interested in the subject they turned out to not be best in it. Your lifestyle and how you look at things can greatly affect your writing capabilities in more ways than one. My mother loves to write, but she has a condition called dyslexia so when it came to reading she had trouble therefore I would be the one reading all the bedtime stories to her, instead of the other way around. It truly depends on so many different aspects on how well your writing will turn out, first you have to be able to read in order to write, if you can’t read all that well, then the chances of your writing being any better is very slim.

In the future a writer will and can very well be just about anyone, there are so many writers and authors already everywhere, they may be too many. But I believe it is a good thing all the different ideas and perspectives from people are at your fingertips. It may not be all that great if we are talking financially though. I’ve heard in the past that writers sometimes don’t get paid all that much. Unless your story blows up like the twilight series or harry-potter. Not at all saying becoming a writer is a bad idea. There are just a lot of the same things being written, and the story just has a small twist. It can be considered ‘recycled ideas’.

My writing tools that I have at the moment are my laptop, my phone, and the good ole fashioned pen and paper. All of these things help me organize my thoughts so I can put a piece together, be it an Essay or a personal poem, or anecdote that I want to piece apart. These advancements in technologies enable me to have a stress free writing experience, there is an unlimited supply of knowledge and words at any given moment in time, that is if your technologies are not dead or need to be charged.

When I want to learn something new about writing, I can just look up whatever information I want to online, or I can call a family member like my Nana, to read over something that I want to be proofread. Sometimes writing can be boring if you have to have a certain strategic format to abide by, But most of the time, for myself anyways I can enjoy writing when I can make it my own. When there is no wrong way you can answer and its solely based on your opinion or personal experience I have the best time with that, Because i have been through enough to give me some background, and my mind has become stronger and more open from the experiences. Therefore writing can come easier for me, then some can say. You have to be able to have the discipline to test and push yourself to do better or your writing will just stay the same, I hate math, but yet i’m about to practice it a whole lot for my test coming up, I got this done because it naturally easier for me to do English activities then it is for math activities, not that i’m the best at English just better at it then math.

All through out high school we were told to print out papers for our classes. Many times each teacher would say each time you copy a paper of the original it skews a little bit. For me I printed out many sheets of music. I had noticed that yes it was skewed the lines would be more scrunched and so forth. But on the contrary the music was the same, and when the notes cam out of my instrument it still sounded just as beautiful as the notes I played from the original. Berger argues that through media and the unlimited copies of paintings creates the deficiency of value for each masterpiece, I could agree but, The reality is you can see these pictures at any time to get a glimpse of them say for a class or a study, but if you wanted to you could the the paintings in person which would in fact give you a totally different feeling or perspective of the painting. Berger then says that our “culture defines the value dependent on the rarity” of a painting. which is also very true. I agree with Berger on most of his points like how each time someone views a picture they have their own perspective and meaning of the painting. When someone views a photo they have their own experiences which formulate their perception of the image. Viewing an original piece makes us have emotions like Berger was saying the authenticity of art captures the original emotion and then as the viewers see there are more emotions now enraptured with the painting. Like me copying my music to make it more accessible the media has let us see masterpieces so we can study them and have conversations about them I do not believe it makes the original any less valuable, sometimes when I see such a beautiful piece it makes me want to go and see it in person, like “starry night” by Van Gogh. The painting is so beautiful and has many colors and brush strokes. The emotions I get from that painting from a (replica) makes me want to see it first hand even more. The value and emotions are tied together for art. I play my music and if i play it correctly its just as beautiful as the original. But the original is not any less valuable.

“they say”

The author notes that if you are a listener or a reader you should be thinking in your head the objectives of what the speaker or writer is trying to get across or the reason why they are even writing or speaking in the first place. Then when you start a conversation you need to begin with “what others are saying” and then come up with your own unique response as a reply says, Graff, and Birkenstein. The authors give many templates and examples of how people have a conversation and how the technique is used. The authors make it very clear and concise of the concept, to keep repeating what “they are saying” in an argument.

“Her point is”

The author begins to talk about what we are doing here now, how we summarize and paraphrase a text without losing ones voice. The balance between these two things can be difficult says Graff, and Birkenstein. They then go on to explain how you have to watch your tone in-order to refrain from biases. The author says “A good summary, in other words, has a focus or spin that allows the summary to fit with your own agenda while still being true to the text you are summarizing.” meaning how you use your tone can be up to, but a good writer keeps it unbiased and can stay talking about the point without making it sound like its a bad idea or a good idea to agree with what the subject, or text is trying to say. Then the author goes on to say that there is “on the other hand” or “except in the scenario” which is “summarizing satirically” Which is going about an argument in such a way of taking their ideas but making it your own and coming up with dead ends on how their argument was basically “not good enough”. Then the author talks about using “signal verbs that fit the action”. Using bigger words or loftier words can improve your tone and your overall argument, in order to not lose your voice or make the argument sound boring.

“As he himself puts it”

In this last part the author hits base with the art of quoting. Graff and Birkenstein say “Such writers fail to see that quoting means more than simply enclosing what “they say” in quotation marks.” meaning that the quote is now apart of your text and has an explanation or a meaning in your newly written argument or text. Then the authors talk about the relevancy of the quote, saying that if you choose a quote you have to have the ability to explain it and make it fir with the rest or whole of the text. Then they say after you pick a relevant quote you have to “frame” your quote as well so the readers can understand them. If you chose to quote something you want it to make sense and not leave it with no explanation says the authors. Graff and Birkensteain say that you can blend that authors words with your own, in other words, you can use your own lingo (aka language) by backing up their quote. The authors also say that its better to over analyze a quote if you are in doubt about it not being explained enough for the readers to understand. Then finally they explain how not to introduce a quote or how not to insert a quote, because it could be “redundant or misleading”.

After reading this first part of “they say I say” I pretty much knew the basics to everything they went over, but they did go into a little more detail in areas that I was a little weary of, like quoting. I am pretty decent at quoting but sometimes not the best at explaining it. That probably has to do with me liking the mysteries of things and having readers interpret my thoughts instead of me being super concise with my perspectives.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.