Her worst fear literally changed her life forever.

Broadcast news, which is annoying to begin with has several cliches which drive me mad. Actually they have dozens. I'll only mention three. 1: "A situation that changed her life forever." Everything we do changes our life forever. There is no need for this word. But newscasters attach to endless stories thinking it add some kind of drama. It doesn't. If a man loses both legs in a car accident it changes his life. There is little chance he will grow new legs and even with prosthetics, he still has a different life. Adding "forever" seems to suggest that there may have been a chance to go back to the way things were. Idiotic! Another favorite is, "A woman's worst fear." This is annoying because the fear can change from day to day, even on the same station. The "woman's worst fear" can be the death of a child, breast cancer, kidnapping, divorce, rape any number of things. "Stay tuned for a story about a Florida woman who was faced with a woman's worst fear." This was the teaser for a story about a woman who had been kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car. (Yes, she survived.) But how many women, when asked, would say, "My worst fear is being kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car"? Finally, I am stunned at the number of "educated" (an assumption, I admit) newscasters who have no idea what the difference is between "literally" and "figuratively." Of course, they almost never use "figuratively" but I have heard announcers say, "He literally ripped his head off" after someone had been soundly scolded. When they don't use the word with complete inaccuracy, they use it when it is not necessary,"They literally found the drowned man on the beach." Duh! Even highly regarded Bob Woodward, when speaking of his new book on BIll Maher's show, said, "They literally had the upper hand." What the hell does that mean? Why do I care? Because I'm cranky, of course. Also it depresses me to think that if news is that bad now, what will it be in

ten years.