Literally, It's Figuratively Hyperbole

There's a famous scene in the movie The Godfather, Part III where Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) laments not being able to operate his 'business' empire more legitimately by saying, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

Enter this week's latest Whacked Out In The Head moment from Michele Bachmann, who had gone quite some time without making national news for saying something stupid.  Just when I thought she was out, she pulled me back in with this quote, from a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about repealing Obamacare:

"That's why we're here.  Because we're saying, let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens."

Literally?  So she believes that a law/regulation, basically words on paper, will somehow animate and act to take a life.  Either she is very stupid about what inanimate objects can do, or very stupid about the definition of the word 'literally'.  (I say both.)

Makes me wonder why extreme conservatives like her even bother with the old, "Guns don't kill people" routine.  Guns literally can kill people, but if paper can do it too, we ought not be wasting time worrying about guns!

The sad thing is, the content of Bachmann's statement is already dumb enough.  How much more time will conservatives like her waste on repealing Obamacare?  Congress passed it, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it, and voters re-elected the president responsible for it.  But she insisted on going the extra mile to expose herself as being stupid beyond the regular dumb, and used the word 'literally' where it made no sense.

Unfortunately, the incorrect and overuse of the word 'literally' these days is almost offensive.  I frequently correct both family members and strangers on how they use it.  These days, people commonly use it to intensify what they're saying, as opposed to actually using it properly.  In other words, it's being used as hyperbole.  Literally.

So thank you, Michele Bachmann, for allowing me to write about the misuse of the English language, while at the same time ridiculing you again.  Good to have you back.  Figuratively.