Literally?

One of my pet peeves is the misuse of "literally." "Literally" has a very specific meaning, it indicates that, while an expression you have used is typically meant figuratively, in this case you mean exactly what the words say, the literal meaning. For example, when I say I literally have a ton of apples my backyard, I mean I have not just some unspecified large amount (a figurative "ton") but 2,000 pounds (a literal ton) of apples in my backyard. Unfortunately, it seems to have come to be used just to provide emphasis.

In his speech announcing his naming as Obama's running mate, Joe Biden said "literally" at least half a dozen times. In his case, it wasn't quite so grating because most of the time the expression he was referring to wasn't typically figurative. So, in the narrow sense, he was speaking literally.

What was worse was the NBC commentator on men's platform diving last night who stated that one of the divers "literally fell to pieces." Yucky! Was the man decomposing in the pool? Did he have severe leprosy, fingers and toes plunking into the water from the platform? Since they were still diving and not draining the pool for a thorough cleaning I somehow doubt that she actually meant it literally.