Biden Annoys Literally
Let others check facts and debate the efficacy of Joe Biden as a speaker – or as a Vice President. This post is only concerned with word usage, and the Vice President’s horrible, repeated misuse of one word in particular. The Veep used the word “literally” at least a half-dozen times in his speech before Democratic National Committee. Not once did he use it correctly.
Biden, for instance, said that the American people “literally stood at the brink of a new depression,” which may have been figuratively true, but isn’t even physically possible because the “brink” in this case wasn’t an actual cliff. Biden later said that General Motors was “literally” on the verge of being liquefied, which would mean that all of GM’s factories, and presumably all its employees as well, were seconds away from being melted, possibly by some new, super-hot death ray.
The word in question, by the way, doesn’t appear a single time in the pre-released version of the Vice President’s remarks. Every misuse of the word was an improvisation by Biden, literally.
Kent Mueller
9 months, 1 week agoI’m sure the MSM will discuss his misuse of the English language much the same they did for George W. Bush. Right?
Off subject, but Biden either didn’t know what he was talking about or he was misleading (lying?) when he talked about GM almost being “liquified”. No one talked seriously about Chapter 7 bankruptcy for GM. GM was never going to be liquidated.
Barb was hard at work with fact checking last week, I’m sure she will be on this one, too. Right?
Mark Hastert
9 months, 1 week agoReally? If that’s all ‘ya got, I’m good…..
Kent Mueller
9 months, 1 week agoMark, voices from the right are very few at the Star. You should know that.
George Harris
Kansas City
9 months, 1 week agoKent, we never followed up on the idea of you applying for one of the Voices spots and then writing some columns. Really, you can’t keep commenting on the lack of voices from the right if you don’t step up. I for one would like to see more thoughtful pieces from local people who see themselves as conservatives or libertarian.
Kent Mueller
9 months, 1 week agoThank you, George. And I may consider that. However, I believe I can criticize the Star for almost non-existent commentary from the right. The Star can be whoever and whatever it wishes, and I am not their keeper. And the Star should be willing to hear other people’s opinions about themselves. Heaven’s they aren’t shy about issuing theirs on others.
Phil Cardarella
9 months, 1 week agoIt is a common use of the word “literally” to mean “truly” or “actually”.
On the other hand, the message Joe delivered was accurate: Literally or truly or actually, General Motors IS alive, and Osama Bin Laden IS dead — and Mitt Romney literally, truly and actually did not understand the economic and psychological importance of either.
Kent Mueller
9 months, 1 week agoWell said, Steven.
The travesty that Phil thinks is so great is how GM and Chrysler were “resolved”. I love it when I hear the left say Romney was going to let Detroit go bankrupt. Well, GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt. They did. They did. So, why does the left say its a bad thing if Romney said that’s what should happen?
The big travesty, though, is to what Steven Alluded. The Obama Administration interceded and circumvented the legal bankruptcy process. The bondholders who held legal liens on the company assets were told to the end of the line. The union’s were told to go to the front of the line so they could get their payoff for supporting Obama. Can someone tell me another bankruptcy where the union contracts were broken, as usual, but this time they were given the second highest ownership in the company?
As Steven said, the normal bankruptcy process could have and would have handled that much better. Oh, except for the union payoffs.
Suzanne Conaway
9 months, 1 week agoHampton, I am a staunch Democrat and, while I like Biden’s speech overall, I agree with you on the “literally’ use.
I was in Toastmasters for many years and I learned to record my speeches and listen to them. That way, I noticed the repititious words and could eliminite them. Especially my pet word, really. I really overused it a lot and found it really, really annoying. So I worked really hard to eliminate it from my speeches.
Maybe Joe should ‘literally’ try the same technique.