One pet peeve I share with many others is misuse of the word, "literally." And this dude misuses it twice in one story regarding this week's collision of two satellites.Infraction #1:
"At physical contact at orbital speeds, a hypersonic shock wave bursts outwards through the structures," Oberg said in e-mailed comments. "It literally shreds the material into confetti and detonates any fuels."Yeah, the impact of two huge satellite spontaneously produces "small pieces or streamers of colored paper."
Infraction #2:
"The collision offers a literally heaven-sent opportunity for the Obama administration to take forceful, visible and long-overdo measures to address a long-ignored issue of 'space debris,'" Oberg said.However this happened, I'm sure that "God and the angels" are involved, and want Obama to address the issue.
Yeah, I know he's not a writer by trade. That doesn't mean it still can't bug me.
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