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Comment by BigTTYGothGF | Hacker News Reader

Literal video, metaphorical lube.

> The new approach relies on a layered form of manganese oxide—a mineral material with the right size layers to allow ions to slip in and out and to differentiate rare earth elements.

Seems literal to me!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite#Drilling_mud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talc#Uses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite#Other_properties

It's a video about literal lube!

But a video isn't literally lube :) it's a video.

By Oxford English Dictionary literal definition, not all lubricants are fluids.

  Etiquette is a mere lubricant of the order of society.

OED entry "lubricant" (B.noun)

  Fine music‥has a sensible effect in‥animating and as it were, lubricating my inventive faculty.

OED entry "lubricate" (2.a verb)

Lube also used for cash - greasing palms, etc.

Using the a non-lube to lubricate is still metaphorical.

But, I just ignore the word literally and english still works just fine

Ignoring literally is A-Ok in my book (and forum comments) but I would point out that a "non lube" used to ease a transition, smooth an action, or remove friction is <cough>literally</cough> a lubricant (by definition and hundreds of years of common usage).

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