While some uses are certainly a misunderstanding of one definition, the historical uses and accepted definitions are far broader than many people realize: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/misuse-of-lite...

The gist:

> The use of literally in a fashion that is hyperbolic or metaphoric is not new—evidence of this use dates back to 1769. Its inclusion in a dictionary isn't new either; the entry for literally in our 1909 unabridged dictionary states that the word is “often used hyperbolically; as, he literally flew.” We (and all the other “craven dictionary editors”) have included this definition for a very simple reason: a lot of people use it this way, and our entries are based on evidence of use. Furthermore, the fact that so many people are writing angry letters serves as a sort of secondhand evidence, as they would hardly be complaining about this usage if it had not become common.

It seems that the word literally is literally never used in its literal sense.

Well, the NYSE is only the foundation of the financial system in a figurative sense.

check out definition 2: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally

Give this podcast [0] a listen, the meaning of words evolve over time. much of comman talk in the 1600's would not be very well understood today simply because the actual meaning of words has changed.

[0] http://www.econtalk.org/john-mcwhorter-on-the-evolution-of-l...

Obligatory XKCD:

https://www.xkcd.com/1108/