There has been some commotion regarding the use 'literally' a general intensifier, basically just a substitute of 'very'. Language Log has a post with links to older posts and xkcd, here.
My initial reaction was, you guess it, lamenting of the disrepaired state of ignorance concerning semantics nowadays, and left it at that.
Recently when I came across another usage, I reconsidered my stand. Perhaps 'literally' here could just be another case of metaphorical-to-literal transcendence. The purpose of this device is, I repeat, to confuse the literal and metaphorical planes; one is transcended to the other, so as to deliver impact. Very similar to the effect of hyperbole: we know it's just an exaggeration, yet the impact is still there.
Put in another way, 'literally' here is to be interpreted metaphorically, so that the act of transcending the metaphorical plane to the literal plane, the act itself exists on another metaphorical plane altogether.
So there you have it. You may employ 'literally' as a general intensifier. It's just, if you don't think about why you may, that is pure ignorance.
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