Politicians. Don’t you just love ‘em? Joe Biden, VPOTUS, rules the most in terms of Literally-misuse. But here is some misuse that I’ve come across.

• “I was literally hung out to dry by Tony Blair.” Des Smith, (as quoted in Private Eye, March 2007)
• “Today [the British] have perfected their tactics to a more subtle form, by using money to literally buy some people to turn against their government”. Robert Mugabe
• “Do you know what Mugabe has done? He has taken people’s identity and literally - if you don’t mind - cut it to pieces.” John Sentamu.
• “We had 300 people outside, literally freezing to death” says Hillary Clinton, of one of her rallies. (This is probably about as accurate as her claim of flying into Sarajevo under sniper-fire.)
• “The world is literally her oyster” Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton on CNN’s Anderson Cooper just after her resignation. (Thanks to Paul H. Parry for that one!)
• “…literally head first…. When the financial markets and the financial system had frozen up to a point that, literally — one of the reasons the economy was literally going toward a depression……which we hadn’t seen since literally the ’30s. ” 14 times in total during a single speech from Whitehouse Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel. And at no stage a necessary and correct use of the word, and mostly a misuse of the word. Oh dear.
• “I literally would not be standing here if it weren’t for Ted Kennedy”. Joe Biden.
• “I just walked in,” Biden said. “Literally, I walked in…. I was awe-struck.  Literally awe-struck… It’s literally a true story”. Joe Biden’s farewell speech used the L-word nine times. Not all were incorrect. But those that were correct were definitely unnecessary, which though not a crime like the blasphemy of L-word misuse - but surely a sin of some kind.
• “Will America once again be respected? Will diplomacy be our preferred tool for furthering our interests and pursuing peace in the world? The answer to these and so many questions are literally within our hands.“ Hillary Clinton