I think it requires some mental gymnastics to say that you shouldn't be surprised that a term that etymologically means 'according to the direct and actual meaning of the words themselves' could be reappropriated to mean, in effect, the opposite - literally almost nothing, a blank hyperbole - taking more purpose in its effect on the rhythm of a sentence, than from any of its dictionary definitions.
I could decimate three pizzas and still fight to not have to share that third piece, unless these three pizzas were merely the sacrificial portion of a larger cohort of thirty pizzas.
It could still be argued that the difference is in degree rather than in kind- that the 'extra bandwidth connecting his senses' allowed him to clearly articulate as sensation a phenomenon much more subconscious in the typical patron's mind.