A New York City Bar Will Literally Kick Out Anyone Misusing the Word 'Literally' Is there a word that you would want to banish from your workplace?
By Nina Zipkin
We all have our pet peeves, especially in an office setting. Someone brings something pungent for lunch, incessantly clicks their pen or insists on turning the thermostat too high or too low. But then there are the smaller annoyances that manifest in the form of often misused words and phrases -- but come up all the time.
Your "for all intensive purposes" that's actually "for all intents and purposes." Your corporate speak such as "let's circle back" or "best practices." "Irregardless" in lieu of "regardless" is another example, although the fine folks at Dictionary.com do confirm that "irregardless" is a word, "irregardless" of how much you might hate it.
But now, one establishment in New York City has decided to take back control on at least one repeatedly misused word. A bar called the Continental has declared war on the word "literally." Literally. Sort of.
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East Village bar the Continental expounds on their (tongue-in-cheek) ban on the word literally. Their stated goal now is to stop "Kardashianism." cc: @edenbrower pic.twitter.com/iI0N41qCgt
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) January 24, 2018
In an interview with New York Magazine, owner Trigger Smith had this to say of the reasoning behind the new signage and the swift dismissal of anyone who says "literally" inside the walls of the beloved neighborhood dive, which is soon to be closed in a few months due to a 2015 bankruptcy filing.
"It's not just millennials. Now you hear newscasters using "literally' every three minutes on the Sunday news shows," Smith said. "What's annoying is people aren't even aware they're saying it. How could you be so unaware of your words that it's coming out every couple minutes?"
Even though the Contintental is not long for this world, clearly Smith was compelled to draw a line in the sand. Hopefully his mission only makes people drop the word from their vocabulary rather making the bar lose too much business.
Is there a word that makes you cringe? Let us know in the comments.
