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Don't think that no one has used or misused "literally" since November 10. I've just been busy and lazy all at the same time.
The other day I attended a talk by Ray Ybarra of the ACLU about the Minuteman group and other border vigilantes. He's coordinating legal observers who follow these guys around to deter and document human rights abuses, and he's working on a class action law suit against a proto-Minuteman offender. He rocks and he needs help. I mention him here because he twice used "literally" in his presentation.
Describing why he got into this project, he mentioned that he grew up in Douglas, AZ, so these things were happening "literally in [his] back yard."
When he got started on this project, he filed FOIA and other disclosure requests, and noted that the stuff these vigilantes had done to border-crossers was "literally appalling."
The word "appalling" comes from the Old French "palir," which means "to grow pale." "Palir" came from the Latin word "pallescene" ("to be pale"). The word became "apalir" in Middle French. The word entered the Middle English vocabulary, but the meaning became "to grow pale because one is overcome with consternation, shock, or dismay," and it was spelled "appal." Apparently the vigilantes are accomplishing their goal by shocking people into becoming white.
The other day I attended a talk by Ray Ybarra of the ACLU about the Minuteman group and other border vigilantes. He's coordinating legal observers who follow these guys around to deter and document human rights abuses, and he's working on a class action law suit against a proto-Minuteman offender. He rocks and he needs help. I mention him here because he twice used "literally" in his presentation.
Describing why he got into this project, he mentioned that he grew up in Douglas, AZ, so these things were happening "literally in [his] back yard."
When he got started on this project, he filed FOIA and other disclosure requests, and noted that the stuff these vigilantes had done to border-crossers was "literally appalling."
The word "appalling" comes from the Old French "palir," which means "to grow pale." "Palir" came from the Latin word "pallescene" ("to be pale"). The word became "apalir" in Middle French. The word entered the Middle English vocabulary, but the meaning became "to grow pale because one is overcome with consternation, shock, or dismay," and it was spelled "appal." Apparently the vigilantes are accomplishing their goal by shocking people into becoming white.
posted by aubra at 1:17 PM
1 Comments:
Everything's great on the blog, but this especially was one of my favorite moments: "The word entered the Middle English vocabulary, but the meaning became 'to grow pale because one is overcome with consternation, shock, or dismay,' and it was spelled 'appal.' Apparently the vigilantes are accomplishing their goal by shocking people into becoming white."
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