brainylady

Two language links for you today, dear fellow grammar avengers, one light and one more thoughtful:

Conversational Viagra fails to stand up to scrutiny (Emma Tom addresses the abuse of "literally")

"I can't talk now," a friend gasped via mobile phone yesterday. "I'm trying to park and I've literally got a massive truck right up my bum."

Doctors say that with a positive attitude and enough rehab, my friend may walk again.

Civil tongue saves heads (David Malouf)

It is all very well to regard language as simply a means of communication. ... But for most of us it is also a machine for thinking, for feeling; and what can be felt and thought in a language -- the sensibility it embodies, the range of phenomena it can take in, the activities of mind as well as the objects and sensations it can deal with -- differs, both in quality and kind, from one language to the next.

And thanks, all, for the compliments on my socks and Xmas surprise. While I'm not literally bursting with pride, I'm very happy indeed.