diff --git a/extra/literals/literals-docs.factor b/extra/literals/literals-docs.factor
index ae25c75495..6525264f6a 100644
--- a/extra/literals/literals-docs.factor
+++ b/extra/literals/literals-docs.factor
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2008 Joe Groff.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: help.markup help.syntax multiline ;
+USING: help.markup help.syntax kernel multiline ;
 IN: literals
 
 HELP: $
 { $syntax "$ word" }
 { $description "Executes " { $snippet "word" } " at parse time and adds the result(s) to the parser accumulator." }
-{ $notes "Since " { $snippet "word" } " is executed at parse time, " { $snippet "$" } " cannot be used with words defined in the same compilation unit." }
+{ $notes { $snippet "word" } "'s definition is looked up and " { $link call } "ed at parse time, so words that reference words in the current compilation unit cannot be used with " { $snippet "$" } "." }
 { $examples
 
     { $example <"
 USING: kernel literals prettyprint ;
 IN: scratchpad
 
-<< : five 5 ; >>
+CONSTANT: five 5
 { $ five } .
     "> "{ 5 }" }
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ IN: scratchpad
 HELP: $[
 { $syntax "$[ code ]" }
 { $description "Calls " { $snippet "code" } " at parse time and adds the result(s) to the parser accumulator." }
-{ $notes "Since " { $snippet "code" } " is executed at parse time, it cannot reference any words defined in the same compilation unit." }
+{ $notes "Since " { $snippet "code" } " is " { $link call } "ed at parse time, it cannot reference any words defined in the same compilation unit." }
 { $examples
 
     { $example <"
diff --git a/extra/literals/literals-tests.factor b/extra/literals/literals-tests.factor
index 34ea4d6415..0e933d5209 100644
--- a/extra/literals/literals-tests.factor
+++ b/extra/literals/literals-tests.factor
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@ USING: kernel literals math tools.test ;
 IN: literals.tests
 
 <<
-: five 5 ;
-: seven-eleven 7 11 ;
 : six-six-six 6 6 6 ;
 >>
 
+: five 5 ;
+: seven-eleven 7 11 ;
+
 [ { 5 } ] [ { $ five } ] unit-test
 [ { 7 11 } ] [ { $ seven-eleven } ] unit-test
 [ { 6 6 6 } ] [ { $ six-six-six } ] unit-test
diff --git a/extra/literals/literals.factor b/extra/literals/literals.factor
index 6df51a35ef..d3cfcaae23 100644
--- a/extra/literals/literals.factor
+++ b/extra/literals/literals.factor
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ! (c) Joe Groff, see license for details
-USING: continuations kernel parser words quotations vectors ;
+USING: accessors continuations kernel parser words quotations vectors ;
 IN: literals
 
-: $ scan-word [ execute ] curry with-datastack >vector ; parsing
+: $ scan-word [ def>> call ] curry with-datastack >vector ; parsing
 : $[ \ ] parse-until >quotation with-datastack >vector ; parsing