Not Literally

... We should take his promise to stop the boats seriously, but probably Not Literally: as one minister told me, a slogan saying " reduce the boats" would look half-hearted, even though it d be more realistic...

... In court, the Castles said such forcefully descriptive phrases were Not Literally what was happening, claiming a " tanning" or leathering of the bottom equated to a single strike on the child s buttock or hand meant to shock rather than hurt, and Mrs Castle using terms such as " devil spawn" was an attempt at humour...