not figuratively

May said, not exactly on the same page as he was, at least not figuratively.

Asked to go though that final sequence, Davis demurred, saying simply, “Jamal Murray made a shot,” then standing up, dropping the mic — and not figuratively — and walking off from the postgame podium.

“I thought things had changed. I was able — literally, not figuratively — to talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the Civil Rights Act before he died. And I thought, ‘Well, maybe there’s real progress’,” Biden said, according to the official White House transcript.

“I’m directing my team, not figuratively but literally, to move heaven and earth to get done as soon as humanly possible.”

Those hard-right Republicans, Mr. Biden said, are “literally, not figuratively, holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation’s debt, debt we’ve already incurred, we’ve already incurred over the last couple hundred years, unless we give into their threats and demands.”