Grammar Quirks: Wendy Walker on the Word 'Literally'

Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?

Wendy Walker: I have a few! "Juxtaposition," "incongruous," and "exacerbate." They sound awesome and have meanings that sum up a concept that would otherwise have to be explained with multiple words. I like to use them this way: "Juxtaposition" is the placing of things side by side so as to highlight aspects of each that might otherwise go unnoticed; things that are "incongruous" do not make sense when looked at together; and to "exacerbate" is to make a situation worse.

GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?

WW: This never used to bother me, but someone recently pointed out that the word "literally" is only appropriately used when differentiating something from its non-literal usage. He literally wrote the book on the matter. But we all use it—all the time—to accentuate a fact. I literally drove for six hours to get home. In the latter sentence, the word that should be used is "actually." There is no non-literal, metaphorical meaning of "I drove six hours." After having this conversation, I began to notice the use of "literally" constantly—and I now have to stop myself from using it as well. Ugh! It has become my least favorite word as a result.

GG: What word will you always misspell?

WW: "Nauseous." I have no idea why, but I never even get close enough for autocorrect to kick in! I know there are multiple vowels both before and after the "s," and I know that all vowels except for "i" are used. But I can never get the right order. Another one like that is "bureaucrat." I have tried to use various tricks for memorizing them, but I now have a mental block that screams at me as I begin to type: "nope...wrong...wrong again...wrong again..."

GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why?

WW: "Alright." A little known fact: "alright" is not a word. The correct words are "all right." Some dictionaries include "alright," but that is only because of widespread usage, and they often note that it is the "non-standard" form of "all right." And yet "alright" just prances off my fingertips as I write. I actually have it on my list of words to search and change when I finish a novel.

GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?

WW: I have a few! The wrong usage of "your" and "you’re." The wrong...

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