I Figuratively Threw Up

First of all, I generally don't make political comments on this site, although at times, man, I'd love to. And this next isn't political, it's about the use of language and preserving useful distinctions. So I'd like to say something about  Sarah Palin's spokesperson du jour Meghan Stapleton and her assertion the other day about Palin's post-resignation future, "The world is literally her oyster."

Now, language evolves and all, and I'm well aware that "literally" has become an intensifier in informal speech. People say about some startling news, "I literally thew up," or "I literally died." Except here's the thing: Used properly, "literally" explicitly refers to things in their literal, real, concrete, non-metaphorical senses. If you literally threw up, then your stomach contents were somewhere other than your stomach, and if you literally died, then you are no more, you have ceased to be, you have expired and gone to meet your maker, joined the bleedin' choir invisible and so forth.

And sometimes I wish that were true of people who misuse the term "literally." To say "The world is literally her oyster" is to assert that the world is, in actual fact, an oyster, and that it belongs to or is under the control of Sarah Palin. Certainly there are lots of credulous and imaginative people around and it's possible Ms. Stapleton believes that the world is, in actual fact, an oyster in the possession of Gov. Palin, and if so, she used the term properly and I excuse her from any chastisement on this score. But if she thinks that the world is a different thing from an oyster, she used the term incorrectly and someone in her business should know better. Just sayin.' Life is confusing enough; let's not muddy things further, eh, Ms. Stapleton? Thanks!