Literally

You're probably right, Ana. I was typing the words and remembering the sneer on the headmistress's face as she handed me my results and commented 'huh! To pass with distinction and put in no effort! You should not really have taken that exam!' I was a persistent truanter who had discovered The Rolling Stones and she loathed me with a passion. Oh well.....

Anyone who finds it boring, needn't poke his/her nose into this corner. We didn't have 'grammar schools' in Scotland (apart from a certain private institution in Glasgow), but mostly we attended Academies before the word was adapted to its current use in England.

A distinction? When did they change the grading system? It was always 1,2,3 etc when I did O levels.

I did, Penstemmon and nearly got flung out. I took one O level and left under a cloud, with my English language distinction and pedantic tendencies intact! Disgraceful, though I says it myself!

It's probably obvious but I did NOT got to a grammar school.

You pedants all need to get off of youre high horses and let langwidge evolve as it has done over the years threw yousige. their is not nothing to be done about it. Stuff happens and lifes' a bitch! Except for the phrase 'can I get a coffee' when speaking to a barrista ( or a barrister??) which is just wrong, IMHO

'Did we all go to grammar schools'? Was that a serious enquiry, mrsmopp?

I fail to understand how literally can mean anything other than, well, literally? It's like saying exactly doesn't mean exactly!
Clearly I am being pedantic but that's what this forum is for.
Did we all go to grammar schools? I think my English Language teachers would be shocked by what's happening to this lovely language of ours. It's being wrecked IMHO.

Yes, indeed I do, papaoscar!

LilyG, do you remember Caesar's famous utterance - Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me! as expressed by Kenneth Williams just before they sorted him out in the Carry On film?

I enjoy being pedantic about stuff and having a good old moan- everyone needs a hobby!

Everything is iconic these days when it really isn't.

Please excuse me if someone else has already said this, but last year 'literally' was included in the dictionary in its fashionable form ( as an emphasising adjective or adverb?) as well as it's former ,as we would say 'correct' form.
Just as irritating is the constant use of 'like'.

(I didn't mean paula was being boring). Just the rest of you

Actually - not crossed out.

(I didn't mean paula was being boring). Just the rest of you

Mrs Mopp Sadly, no.

Boring would be a better word than cute. [yawn]

Which is why people are asking paula what she meant. Does it matter, really?

Cute in a derisory sense in this instance, I'm guessing. I expect others are guessing that too.

'Cute' used to be an American word. I think the internet has spread its use. In older American novels, 'cunning' is used in the same way. Please can we have a campaign about 'infamous'? Doesn't mean very famous! No, it doesn't! I'm regularly wracking my brains to try to remember what the scandal was about some perfectly upright person or blameless event in the news. Then I realise.

I don't think there is any question, in Pedants' Corner, of correcting other people (much as we'd like to sometimes!) It is just a place to air views on the use, or misuse of language.

Why, paula is it "cute" to correct other people's errors? Just wondering...

Or simply "acute" from its origins, meaning sharp-pointed, keenly perceptive, mentally penetrating, etc.

Which all we pedants are, of course.

That literally goes without saying

Of course - in Pedants'corner one could not expect less than a precise use of a word.

Soutra I remember when cute meant sly and calculating - I assume that's what Paula means!