Prior to his death, whistleblower John Barnett was testifying against Boeing over concerns about standards.

John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.

In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company.

Boeing said it was saddened to hear of Mr Barnett’s passing. The Charleston County coroner confirmed his death to the BBC on Monday.

It said the 62-year-old had died from a “self-inflicted” wound on 9 March and police were investigating.

      • @[email protected]
        96•10 months ago

        I don’t know what you were trying to achieve beyond publicly announcing you’re a petty, boring person.

      • ArxCyberwolf
        68•10 months ago

        You could’ve just done so and moved on, my guy. It’s not a profound statement.

      • @[email protected]
        57•10 months ago

        Did he not literally volunteer?

        I mean, I get it, I’m sick of “literally” meaning “figuratively”, and I’d die on that hill with you, but this is the dumbest possible time to make that stand. In this case “literally” just means “literally”.

      • @[email protected]
        41•10 months ago

        Literally has been used as an intensifier for over 200 years. The Oxford English Dictionary includes a definition of literally meaning “figuratively”. Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, James Joyce, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain all used it that way in their writing.

        So until you write something as well respected and enduring as Sanditon, The Great Gatsby, Tom Sawyer, or Ulysses and collect your mother fucking Nobel prize in literature, please choke on a literal dick you confidently incorrect fuckwit.

        • @leftzero
          33•10 months ago

          In this case literally literally did mean literally, though, not figuratively. Which makes the fuckwit even more incorrect.

        • RiskableEnglish
          2•10 months ago

          I don’t care what justification you throw out. Misuse of literally drives me figuratively insane!

            • RiskableEnglish
              1•10 months ago

              It’s just a general statement. Not specific to this article or comments 🤷

        • @[email protected]
          1•10 months ago

          Wondering if they historically used it more as in a ‘literarily’ sense and with license

          Evolving language and all that

          (I’m not trying to argue anything, just musing)

      • @[email protected]
        21•10 months ago

        i’m literally sorry that you literally don’t know standard english my guy, i literally don’t know what to literally say to you 😭

      • @[email protected]
        3•10 months ago

        “Literally” CAN be used as an hyperbole. It’s just a more emphatic way to say “very”