Ok, this is something that hit me a week or so ago, and I just thought I'd throw it out there. I may be going crazy, but what else is new...?

Anyway,

Why is it that when someone has done like a complete turn around with their life or something, people say "they've done a complete 360?" I mean, I understand what they're saying, but if you do a 360 your back to where to started. That just makes no sense to me, and it was just said on TV so I got to thinking about it again. Shouldn't it be a 180 if you've changed your ways?


...I'm confused!


...off to my hole to ponder






ks

I've never really thought about it before but you are right KS. Saying that someone has done a 360 would imply that they are right back where they started.
Odd.

Hmmmm well that makes sense.

You should say 180. 360 would be conveying the wrong message.

Whew, ok, I'm glad I'm not the only who sees that. I mean, if you do a 360 you're back to where you started from...odd.






ks

Perhaps doing a 360 means coming around 'full circle', so to speak. It could imply that a person has been through it all and gained experience which made them wiser.
They may have ended up where they started, which is really 'home' symbolically speaking, yet they're home with more knowledge which helped turned their lives around.
Or....
It could be a saying that just makes no sense and 180 would work better. What do I know. ;)

It was probably first said by the same people that say, "It's Deja Vu all over again." Um...that's what deja vu means.

hehe good question

It should be a180. You wouldn't say that someone did a complete aboutfaceaboutface. You'd say that they did an about face. It's the same kind of confused sentence as "I could care less" Instead of "I couldn't care less--no way, no how!"

hmmm....interesting jo..cant say ive ever thought about it that way...but ur rite!!!! for once..ur actually rite ;)

360??? That makes no sense to me @ all/ Ive always said complete 180. Funny, I was just thinking about this not that long ago LOl.

Originally posted by ks
Whew, ok, I'm glad I'm not the only who sees that. I mean, if you do a 360 you're back to where you started from...odd.


Ya I see it too....

Originally posted by Blair n' Jo Rock
hmmm....interesting jo..cant say ive ever thought about it that way...but ur rite!!!! for once..ur actually rite ;)



:p Why thank you, Blair. Perhaps one day you will experience the same thing;)




ks

I think the term "They've done a complete 360 with their life" is meant to be taken figuratively and not in the literal sense.
However, even if we interpret it literally, we can examine the definitions and see how they fit into a sentence.

Definitions

1.) A full circle is 360 degrees. This is a "complete turnaround".

2.) A half circle is 180 degrees. This is a "half turn".

Here are the definitions used in a sentence:

*He did a 'complete 360' with his life.
means:
*He did a 'complete turnaround' with his life.

*He did a 'complete 180' with his life.
means:
*He did a 'half turn' with his life.

As for ending up where you started, I think the person who coined the phrase, "They've done a complete 360 with their life", assumed the person would be making positive changes as they transformed themselves and arrived full circle.
To make a complete turnaround in your life, you have to turn all the way around...360 degrees.

I thought of that before. You're right, it makes no sense. In fact, I stopped saying "360" and replaced it with "180" because it just didn't make any sense to me with 360. After all, if you do a 180, you're at the opposite side...

This discussion brings to mind a routine that George Carlin did on the meaning of certain words and expressions:

(I'm paraphrasing here)

"A friend of mine said he needed to buy himself a new hot water heater. I told him that hot water don't need to be heated.....what you want is a cold water heater.....or a hot water cooler".

"I was in a restaurant looking at the menu, and saw they had Jumbo Shrimp. What are they? Are they large shrimp.....or small jumbos?".

If you do a 180, that to me means that you didn't completely turn your life around. However, If you do a 360, you have completely changed. You've come full circle with your life.

I've never heard that saying before.