RockBottomthe wall street journal today literally asking "but what do dead kids mean for the GDP?"
I don’t think OP knows what literally means. The wsj did not ask the question in the title. It asked a different question.
Oh I’m with you, but I stopped fighting for the word “literally” when the damn dictionaries gave up and added shit like this:
2 informal : in effect : VIRTUALLY —used in an exaggerated way to emphasize a statement or description that is not literally true or possible
I literally died of embarrassment.
… will literally turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or inju
I still think there are different standards for filler words during conversations and titles in writing. In this case, the post title is simply a lie. For example:
Title: Florida Man Actually has Three Legs.
Content: guy’s got such a big dick, he’s practically a tripod.
In this case, that’s a misleading title.
I hear you. There’s room for confusion in much more than just titles, too. Often when someone reports something “literally” happened it’s some thing on the edge of credulity, but not past it, and you have to stop and clarify “wait, so the cop asked to search your car and you literally shit your pants?”