I ID LSI 11 -1 1'
Compton Mackenzie
ITERALLYS ' are becoming as rare as the Large Tortoiseshell butterfly because, owing to the publicity they have received for some years past, the most reckless journalist pauses before he commits himself to emphasising a statement with a ' literally ' and in the end either substitutes figuratively' or shies away from emphasis altogether. Nevertheless, literallys ' may still be caught even in the most unexpected quarters, and a correspondent of mine caught a beautiful specimen in the Financial Times the other day : " Literally, barrels of acid are poured down the ears of countless young men every day for neglecting these simple precautions."
The fiends who behave like this are senior accountants dealing with their juniors. I started collecting literallys ' long enough ago to be able to hope that nowhere in any of my earlier writings will a ' literally' of my own be unearthed, to bring a blush to my cheeks; I have 'mercifully escaped detection so far. Sonic twenty years since a paragraph in the " Londoner's Diary " of the Evening Standard laughed at somebody who had indulged in a literally,' and I wrote to warn the Editor that the Londoner must be careful because I, who had been collecting literallys ' for some years, had caught one or two good specimens in his Diary. I cited as an example the admiral who had " literally won his spurs at the Battle of Jutland." Maurice Dumesnil, Amazing Journey (with Isadora Duncan in South America): " Our eyes were literally pinned to the curtain till it went up." • A variant of this came from the Associated Press in 1940: " The French are also ready with a strong force literally pinned to the Swiss frontier, in view of German concentrations, despite the Allied need of plenty of mechanical columns to hold the German offensive through Belgium."
Mr Robert Boothhy, M.P., on June 22nd, 1949, in a moment of emotion inspired by the opposition of the Liberal Party to importing bottled claret into Scotland, said : " I have been literally dragged to my feet by the acting leader of the Liberal Party. I should like to ask why the Government of this country should not encourage the drinking of wine. 1 suggest that it would contribute both to the happiness of our people and to their industrial efficiency if they could drink more
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