Signing Habs sign Jiri Sekac

[habs rule]

Saying that Bourque is literally a turd is a rhetorical move, hyperbole used for emphasis. The "real" intention is to analogize Bourque with a turd, or (more properly) to use the poetic device of metaphor ("Bourque is a turd" really standing in for the formally proper statement that "Bourque has the worth and repugnance of a turd"). By deploying the term "literally" in this context, what the speaker or writer is doing is symbolically repudiating the metaphorical intent - declaring that Bourque is so bad he does not only bring to mind a turd, he is a turd. Since everyone understands that this is hyperbole, just as everyone understands that the phrase "Bourque is a turd" is intended metaphorically - none of us actually thinks the speaker means to inform us that Bourque is physically made up of excrement - it is a perfectly admissible rhetorical move. To reject the use of "literally" here is analogous to rejecting the "Bourque is a turd" statement, which is equally untrue, and equally rhetorical; but the intended meaning of which is equally clear. Both statements are in fact permissible.

All of which is that there's a time and a place for grammatical pedantry, and this isn't one of them.

Ya know some of us have way too much time on our hands.

[IN THE HEARTS OF MEN]

how can you re quote something you said say last february that was given a negative reputation but ended up coming to fruition later in the season??

[ICEWATER77]

I've said it from early on in pre-season, and i'll say it again..Sekac is f'n legit, folks!!