https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=MysticKirbyexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-09T16:54:04ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:MysticKirby&diff=22354User:MysticKirby2012-12-10T03:26:28Z<p>MysticKirby: Created page with "Hello."</p>
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<div>Hello.</div>MysticKirbyhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=725:_Literally&diff=19110725: Literally2012-11-22T05:46:18Z<p>MysticKirby: Created page with "{{comic | number = 725 | date = April 9, 2010 | title = Literally | image = literally.png | imagesize = | titletext = The chemistry experiment had me figurati..."</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 725<br />
| date = April 9, 2010<br />
| title = Literally<br />
| image = literally.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = The chemistry experiment had me figuratively -- and then shortly thereafter literally -- glued to my seat.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The words {{w|Literal and figurative language|literally and figuratively}} are often confused in writing, although they represent opposite concepts. The adverb "literally" implies that the action it describes actually happened, while "figuratively" is used when the action it describes is being used as a figure of speech, and is not a representation of what actually happened.<br />
<br />
In this comic, one of the two people (we'll call him Ted for now) accidentally mentions he was ''literally'' glued to his seat (they had presumably just left a theater), at which point a crazy man off-panel loudly corrects him. The crazy man mentions that he has been stalking Ted for eighteen years since an incident in seventh grade, where the crazy man (as a kid) incorrectly uses "literally" and young Ted corrects him. He felt humiliated, overreacting to young Ted's simple correction, and began to follow Ted everywhere, vowing to be present when Ted makes the same mistake he had made in seventh grade.<br />
<br />
When Ted tells him that he is "literally the craziest person" he's ever met, the crazy man thinks that he incorrectly used the word "literally" again; however, Ted reassures him that he did not misuse it, meaning that the crazy man actually is the craziest person he has ever met.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Two people walking together. The one on the right turns to the other.]<br />
:Person: I was literally glued to my seat through the entire-<br />
:Crazy man [off-panel]: HAH! You mean "figuratively"!<br />
<br />
:[Crazy man walks into the panel. He has messy hair and a messy beard. The other people stop walking.]<br />
:Person: Who are you?<br />
:Crazy man: Eighteen years I've watched you! Waiting!<br />
<br />
:Crazy man: Ever since that day in seventh grade when you humiliated me.<br />
:[Short flashback panel. 4 kids are standing around talking to each other.]<br />
:Kid #2 [Crazy man]: I told him and he literally exploded!<br />
:Kid #3: Uh, unless he physically ''burst'', you mean "figuratively".<br />
:Kid #4: Hah.<br />
:Crazy man [outside of flashback panel]: Remember?<br />
<br />
:Crazy man: I knew one day you'd slip, and I vowed I'd be there to see you fall. ''How does it feel?''<br />
:Person: You are literally the craziest person I've ever met.<br />
:Crazy man: You did it again!<br />
:Person: No, I didn't.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>MysticKirby