[Ads-l] "physically" = "literally"?

[Emily Gordon]

As a linguistically immature Gen Xer, I offer that “physically” in this
sense means “strenuously [an exaggeration for emotional or humorous
emphasis] achieved something in real life rather than online.”

Example found on Reddit when I searched for “physically go there”:

[excerpt begins]

My program recommends a 400-hour externship at a hospital but every time I
email/call a hospital, no one gets back to me.

I sent in some applications to my desired position (which I’m regretting)
and I explained in my detailed cover letter that I would like to discuss an
externship and still never heard back.

Should I physically go there and see if anyone will talk to me?

[excerpt ends]

https://www.reddit.com/r/sterileprocessing/s/3JrTwHvFjz


On Fri, May 15, 2026 at 11:25 AM Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> Hmmm . . . because you can do Google searches through voice commands,
> maybe he's using it to indicate keying in a search vs. doing
> voice-to-text??? I dunno. <shrug>
>
> ---Amy West
>
> On 5/15/26 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > Date:    Thu, 14 May 2026 08:23:28 -0700
> > From:    Nancy Friedman<wordworking at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: "physically" = "literally"?
> >
> >  From a May 14 New York Magazine article about NYU commencement speaker
> > Jonathan Haidt, author of*The Anxious Mind* (50+ weeks on the NY Times
> > best-seller list). The quote is from an anonymous marketing major:
> >
> > "He said of Haidt, 'All my friends and I had to like physically Google
> who
> > the commencement speaker was because we didn’t know.'"
> >
> >
> https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jonathan-haidt-nyu-commencement-speaker-campus-speech-debate.html
> >
> >
> > Nancy Friedman
> > Chief Wordworker
> > web: wordworking.com<http://www.wordworking.com>
> > substackhttps://fritinancy.substack.com/
> > Medium<https://medium.com/@wordworking>
> >
> > tel 510 652-4159
> > cel 510 304-3953
> > bluesky/mastodon/instagram  Fritinancy
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org