Well, my personal options on literally are that it is not being used to mean figuratively, it is being used in a figurative manner for weight and effect. The same way that yeah and right are both positive/agreement words, but can be used in a figurative manner to mean the opposite. If someone says “they turned the frogs gay!” And someone responds “riiiiiiiiiight…”, right still means “that statement is correct” but it was used with an inflection that implies the opposite. That doesn’t mean the dictionary definition of right now needs to be updated to fall in line with 21st century sarcastic smart ass linguistics.

So, I dont actually think the definition of literally has changed, and I disagree with any dictionary that says it has and now needs to include an additional definition of the word that means the opposite.

The reason I was asking is because you, like me, seem to care about this more than the average person. So I was curious of your thought on the matter in hopes that I might gain some additional insight on the matter that I didn’t have before.

It mildly irks me too, however, I can’t remember the last time I was actually confused by the intent of the speaker.

That’s the same feeling I would have if someone told me a story where they were “habilitated by fear” instead of “debilitated by fear”. I know what they mean. That doesn’t mean the word they used means the same thing though.