There I was innocently reading an otherwise entertaining novel when an ill-turned phrase ruined it all. A scene that had until that moment been suspenseful turned hopelessly comic as the author described the protagonist discovering another character "literally crying her eyes out." Immediately my attention wandered from the plot...has this bizarre medical event been documented? This condition needs an appropriately fancy name. Spontaneous lachrymal optectomy?

And so an article is born. At the risk of being branded just another linguistic peevologist, I will address several recently-misused terms for well-informed writers to hunt down and eliminate.

Literally
By definition, literally is an adverb meaning "in actual fact" or "exactly." It is the opposite of "figuratively." Its use typically indicates a context in which a figurative interpretation would ordinarily be applied and calls the reader's attention to the distinction that in this particular case, that use is NOT intended. This may happen when a colorful phrase or saying is applied to a less-fanciful usage:

--The coach flipped his lid when his defense allowed the rival team to score its sixth unopposed touchdown.
--The stove became so hot so fast that the boiling kettle flipped its lid.

In the second example, the reader or speaker may correctly choose to insert the word literally to emphasize that this dramatic and unexpected action really did, in fact, occur. But to insert literally in the first example would be almost slapstick, indicating that this caricature of a coach dons a lid before game time and tosses it in anger when his team fails.

Some dictionaries acknowledge that literally is sometimes intended to draw attention to the meaning "figuratively," but why introduce an opposing meaning? Simply leave out the word when it isn't specifically necessary to avoid any question of meaning. (Sharp-eyed grammarians may add that literally, like its fellow adverbs hopefully and thankfully, is just as often misused even in the first context. However, that grammatical question is far beyond the bounds of this usage discussion.)

360 Degrees
Geometry teaches that a complete circle is 360 degrees around. A writer will sometimes make the logical leap, then, that a complete *anything* can be measured, figuratively speaking, in 360 degrees. But in some nonmathematical cases, 180 degrees would more meaningfully describe completeness. Take this example:

Though Arthur once enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle financed by criminal activity, he has now turned around 360 degrees.

Chances are, this writer means to express that despite his wayward past, Arthur is now an honest man who lives modestly. The 360-degree phrasing, however, suggests instead that poor Arthur had a momentary change of heart only to return--as in a 360-degree circle--to the exact place he started: that is, he's once again nothing more than a rich swindler. Simply changing the phrase to 180 degrees will clarify that Arthur's current ways are in direct opposition to his former path.

Babysit/Babysit for
Increasingly writers and speakers have fallen into the habit of using for with babysit even when it is not indicated, which unintentionally changes the scenario. Consider the difference in these two sentences:

--Next Friday, Janie will babysit the Zellers.
--Next Friday, Janie will babysit for the Zellers.

In the first sentence, it is entirely clear that the Zellers are the children who will be in Janie's charge. In the second, the Zellers are the big people who have hired Janie for the evening, not the little people she will be supervising. The frequency with which for is attached to babysit suggests that this may be an example of a usage shift in progress rather than a simple usage mistake; time will tell. In the meantime, however, writers and speakers would be well advised to be alert to the possible misreading that tiny word can cause.

About the Author

AnnaLisa Michalski writes and publishes the ezine Word-wise and owns and operates Admin Maven, a virtual assisting service specializing in proofreading and copy editing.