It’s the literal truth, we say, as if that “literal” conveyed an extra measure of authority. Actually, literal meanings are frequently wrong, and often confusing. A recent example is the “naked wife” ...

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My editor here in the WGBH Newsroom, Aaron Schachter, is a little bit of a curmudgeon. And in recent weeks he's had a linguistic bee in his bonnet that he will not let go. "I am literally going crazy, ...