Egg and I cite to each other uses of "literally" as an intensifier rather than a modifier. I recently emailed her:
Arkansas is considering a user fee on ATMs, like a nickel a use. This is problematic of course because how to collect it? When you take $20 out of the bank, does the machine dispense $19.95? Anyway, Tex said, "This is literally nickel-and-diming people." Happily, he didn't continue "...to death."
Also, ÜrBoss described a situation between Dot Org and another party but (diplomatically) didn't name other party. We discussed the occurrence in staff meeting, and Ernier (hey, we have a new Egg! his name is Ernie. He is Not You, but he seems fine) said,
"If ÜrBoss wouldn't have named the party, I would have known it was X because [such-and-such made it obvious]."
He had a valid point to make (though content is never what I discuss myself, only style), but I was too distracted by his confusing mood with tense. I have been trying to find examples of this for ages. He should have said, "If ÜBoss hadn't named the party, I would have known it was X...."
His usage strips English of its fading conditional or subjunctive (I never can keep them straight), don't you think? Saying "if ÜrBoss wouldn't have named..." wouldn't have been correct even if his meaning had been this:
"If ÜrBoss wouldn't have named the party [meaning, in the past-tense meeting he did not do so], I would have [because it needed to be named]."
I think there could be a correct meaning for that construction to express, but damned if I can think of one.
23 February, from another site: [Someone has not done something.] "I wished that he would have done thus-and-so." I don't even know what tense the second predicate is. The first is perfect (or past perfect?), because it's a completed action? Bah.
I don't have the words to describe what I mean because I know the language natively rather than having been taught it and have an ear rather than a learning of grammar. RDC has or had a really useful Spanish text called something like English Grammar for Students of Spanish, meaning to explain all the stuff you know because you speak it but do not understand well enough to implement in another language (especially one, like Spanish, that has so many more tenses than English). I should look up the names of the tense or mood I mean.