Screenshot / Google.com 
 
 
 
 If you’re a cool-headed, fair-minded, forward-thinking descriptivist like my colleague David Haglund, it doesn’t bother you one bit that people often use the word “literally” when describing things figuratively. 
 
 If, on the other hand, you’re a cranky language bully like me, it figuratively bugs the crap out of you every time. 
 
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 We pedants are waging a losing battle, of course. Even major dictionaries now recognize the use of “literally” as an intensifier for statements that are not literally true. 
 
 Will Oremus Will Oremus is Slate’s senior technology writer. Email him at will.oremus@slate.com or follow him on Twitter. 
 
 Fortunately, Yahoo Tech's Alyssa Bereznak has run across a simple remedy for this galling inversion of the term’s original meaning. Built by a programmer named Mike Walker, it’s an extension for Google’s Chrome browser that replaces the word “literally” with “figuratively” on sites and articles across the Web, with deeply gratifying results. 
 
 It doesn’t work in every instance—tweets, for example, are immune to the extension’s magic, as are illustrations. But it works widely enough to put you in metaphorical stitches when you see some of the results. For instance, a quick Google News search for “literally” turns up the following headlines, modified by the browser extension to a state of unintentional accuracy: 
 
 Be warned, though: Walker’s widget does not distinguish between the literal and figurative uses of “literally.” So if you install it, you’ll also start seeing the word “figuratively” to describe things that are literally true, as in, “White Sox Rookie Abreu Figuratively Destroys a Baseball.” (The baseball was in fact destroyed.) 
 
 
 
 But hey, that’s no worse than the current state of affairs. Come to think of it, by the anti-prescriptivists’ logic, there’s nothing wrong with using “figuratively” to mean “literally,” as long as enough people do it. Anything can mean anything, literally—I mean figuratively! 
 
 If you're signed into the Chrome browser, you can install the extension here. For those who want a browser extension that zaps hyperbole more broadly, try Alison Dianotto's Downworthy tool, which performs similar operations on phrases like "will blow your mind" and "you won't believe." 
 
 ||||| My favourite misuse of "literally" came from an august editor at an august publishing house. A debut novel, she declared to a group of journalists, had "literally broken her heart". We all, of course, then made sure to steer well clear. 
 
 Not being a football follower, I didn't know that Jamie Redknapp had form in this area, however, and I'm rather impressed. I think "he had to cut back inside on to his left, because he literally hasn't got a right foot" is brilliantly surreal. 
 
 Anyway, Slate has brought music to the ears of grammar sticklers everywhere, pointing us towards an ingenious new browser plug-in which replaces the word "literally" with "figuratively" on articles across the web. ("That's literally all it does," writes the developer on the extension's site; it already has one, five-star review: "This is figuratively the best invention of all time," says a user, predictably enough.) 
 
 Slate gave it a whirl: "a quick Google News search for 'literally' turns up the following headlines, modified by the browser extension to a state of unintentional accuracy: The 2014 MTV Movie Awards Were Figuratively on Fire; 10 Things You Figuratively Do Not Have Time For; Momentum Is Figuratively the Next Starting Pitcher for LSU," it says. 
 
 Unfortunately, the plug-in is not able to spot the correct usage of the word literally, "so if you install it, you'll also start seeing the word 'figuratively' to describe things that are literally true, as in, 'White Sox Rookie Abreu Figuratively Destroys a Baseball.' (The baseball was in fact destroyed)," says Slate. 
 
 This could be a fatal flaw in the invention – but you know what? I think it makes it even better. The linguistic abuse of literally has got out of control – even the OED now includes an informal definition of literally as "used for emphasis while not being literally true". Now it is time for figuratively to suffer, starting off with the figurative destruction of that baseball, an enjoyably surreal image to rival that of Redknapp's one-legged footballer. As for me, I'm figuratively installing the extension as I write. ||||| (Avidly.org) 
 
 The web is filled with pretentious language, the most obnoxious of which is the tendency to use the word “literally” incorrectly. If you are the type of person who will have a figurative heart attack the next time you see the word misused, you should download this browser extension. For your own safety. 
 
 Made by selfless crusader Mike Walker, this tool is a grammatical Band-Aid for the Internet that patches over any occurrence of the word “literally” with the word “figuratively.” 
 
 Here’s how to install it: 
 
 1. Make sure you’re signed in to Google Chrome. 
 
 2. Go here. 
 
 3. Click the blue Free button in the upper-right corner of the page. 
 
 4. A screen will pop up to make sure you want to allow the extension to read the pages you visit. Click Add. 
 
 5. You should see a confirmation box on the upper-right corner of the page. 
 
 Congratulations, you’re done. 
 
 Now go test out your new toy. I recommend you start with this YouTube clip. I literally died. (Editor’s note: Alyssa is literally dead.) 
 
 Follow Alyssa Bereznak on Twitter or email her here. Follow Yahoo Tech on Facebook right here for all the latest tech news.
– Ruthless about grammar? Got Google Chrome? This plugin, highlighted at Yahoo, could figuratively solve all your problems. The "Literally" browser extension gets rid of the pesky incorrect uses of "literally" that litter the Internet, replacing them with "figuratively." According to the extension's developer, "that's literally all it does." At Slate, Will Oremus offers some examples: "The 2014 MTV Movie Awards Were Figuratively on Fire." "Momentum Is Figuratively the Next Starting Pitcher for LSU." The downside: Even correct usage gets replaced. That means you'll see phrases like "White Sox Rookie Abreu Figuratively Destroys a Baseball"—when in fact he literally destroyed the thing. In the Guardian, Alison Flood doesn't see this as a problem. "The linguistic abuse of literally has got out of control," she writes. "Now it is time for figuratively to suffer, starting off with the figurative destruction of that baseball." (More cool Chrome apps: one that allows you to delete Chris Brown from the Internet, and another that lets you avoid the endless parade of baby photos on Facebook.)