Plugin Wipes Out Wrong Uses of 'Literally'

Ruthless about grammar? Got Google Chrome? This plugin, highlighted at Yahoo, could figuratively solve all your problems. The "Literally" browser extension gets rid of the pesky incorrect uses of "literally" that litter the Internet, replacing them with "figuratively." According to the extension's developer, "that's literally all it does." At Slate, Will Oremus offers some examples:

• "The 2014 MTV Movie Awards Were Figuratively on Fire."
• "Momentum Is Figuratively the Next Starting Pitcher for LSU."

The downside: Even correct usage gets replaced. That means you'll see phrases like "White Sox Rookie Abreu Figuratively Destroys a Baseball"—when in fact he literally destroyed the thing. In the Guardian, Alison Flood doesn't see this as a problem. "The linguistic abuse of literally has got out of control," she writes. "Now it is time for figuratively to suffer, starting off with the figurative destruction of that baseball." (More cool Chrome apps: one that allows you to delete Chris Brown from the Internet, and another that lets you avoid the endless parade of baby photos on Facebook.)