>>40
Touche on the spelling. Incorrect spelling on a textboard, as we all know, is a vary grave error, so please forgive my carelessness. (but seriously, I very much should have politely saged to make a snide remark, and for that I do apologize)

However, I still most insist that I am correct. If literally has come to mean figuratively, then why are there situations where literally doesn't replace figurative in common language? Take the following exaple.

"When I told him the news, he exploded."
"He actually exploded?!"
"No, of course not. I was speaking literally."

Could you ever imagine someone saying that?

If someone said "He literally exploded", literally is not being used in place of figuratively. Rather, literally is being used as an intensifier for the figurative used of "exploded".