Literally and Figuratively

[Lal Zimman]

On Apr 16, 2005, at 10:45 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>> So what, then, for this person is the difference between "literally"
>> and
>> "figuratively"? The use in this contrasting way indicates that the
>> author
>> must
>> believe that the two terms mean something different. So what is it?
>
> Just maybe: since "literally" has come to be used for "figuratively"
> or for
> "almost-literally", maybe "literally and figuratively" can be taken as
> "almost-literally and farther-from-literally" or "figuratively and
> figuratively-at-a-greater-distance".
>
> If Joe is a tenured professor who intends to devote his entire career
> to
> USND, he might be called "literally married" to USND according to
> post-literate standards (i.e., "figuratively married" in the tired
> English
> of the past). Then how would one express (in addition) the idea that
> Joe
> loves USND and is strongly attached to the place psychologically so
> that
> even if he retired or lost his tenure he would make every effort to
> stay?
> In this case he would be "literally and figuratively married" to his
> institution.

I agree that there is a sense here of figuratively ("figuratively") and
less-figuratively ("literally") but I think the example lacks an
important quality of the original case, i.e. the fact that Mabel Teng
played an important role in San Francisco's issuance of marriage
licences to same-sex couples. So I think the quoted party here was
trying to say that she's married to the city in the traditional
metaphoric sense, and then chose to use the word literally to indicate
that this is less removed from reality, as a metaphor, than it usually
is. E.g. in the case above with the professor, the metaphor "married to
USND" is further from reality (more figurative) than saying the same
about Teng because marriage has nothing to do with the situation in a
literal sense. If the professor studied marriage (in a sociology
department, say), then one might say the same about him and get the
same effect.

I think, in a way, saying "literally" here mostly serves to point out
that the quotee had made a somewhat punny word choice.


-Lal

p.s. This is my first post (after lurking for some time.) Hello!