Timeline for Is this usage correct - quite literally at the eleventh hour?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 16, 2018 at 22:22 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I've balanced out the downvote; I think this is a good question. // If you choose to use 'literally' here, you are employing the 'using the language with its precise primary meaning' sense. The snag is that the one-to-one correspondence is here between 'endleofan ' and 'at the eleventh hour', not between 'at the eleventh hour' and the perilous time referred to (possibly 2 days before the asteroid hit). And this is confusing. | |
| Jan 16, 2018 at 18:53 | comment | added | user96551 | To whoever gave the downvote: care to explain why? I would like to understand what the question lacks... | |
| Jan 16, 2018 at 18:52 | comment | added | user96551 | @EdwinAshworth: That does seem appealing...avoids the whole "quite literally"...Thanks | |
| Jan 16, 2018 at 4:12 | comment | added | David K | The sense I get from "literally at the eleventh hour" is that the end of humanity was expected to occur in literally one hour or less. | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 21:56 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | The aptly named endleofan gathering was called when something threatened the very existence of humanity, as an act of last resort – at the eleventh hour. | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:53 | answer | added | EightyEighty | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:41 | comment | added | user96551 | @Laurel: endleofan is old english for eleven...so it is supposed to point that the name literally means that it is at the eleventh hour... | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:13 | comment | added | Laurel♦ | Why did you write "quite literally" if you didn't want the literal meaning? Why not just remove the words "quite literally"? | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:07 | comment | added | user96551 | @HotLicks: "The endleofan gathering was called, when something threatened the very existence of humanity, as an act of last resort, almost literally at the eleventh hour." - that somehow feels even more weird...or is it just me ? | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:05 | comment | added | Hot Licks | How about "almost literally"? | |
| Jan 15, 2018 at 19:04 | history | asked | user96551 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |