"Oh my God! Did you just see that?"
"What?"
"Rafalski's shot! It literally danced by the Canadian."
Actually, no. The team USA hockey player, Brian Rafalski, did not cast a magic spell on the puck and convince it to literally, to actually, dance past the Canadian defenseman. I was just excited. It was merely a well-executed shot in an unanticipated upset that allowed me to dare dream of gold.
I'm not the only one making the mistake. "Literally" is not a new word; however, using the word to convey excitement and/or magnitude, meanwhile reversing the actual meaning - "actually" - of the word does seem to be new.
If you're like me and you follow a professional sports team, you've likely heard enough play-by-plays to make you wonder if Kobe "literally flew", if Peyton "literally throws like Thor", and if the Lions "literally could not be any worse." Barring the probability of that last one, statements like these aren't literally true. They are indeed figurative. So when exactly did the meaning of the term get reversed like this.
I'm not entirely sure. But I can say that I started noticing it only recently, after listening to the comedian David Cross. One of Cross's bits pokes fun and the ridiculousness of all this literal misuse.
If you like, you can check him out on YouTube at this link. Beware, his mouth is not figuratively clean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ly1UTgiBXM
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