![]() Those only perceived to be going through a meaning change can become victims, as well. Note, though, that I said "views as the traditional meaning." Words in the middle of a meaning change aren't the only ones at risk of being skunked. The new use seems illiterate to Group 1 the old use seems odd to Group 2. Writes Garner in Modern American Usage:Ī word is most hotly disputed in the middle part of this process: any use of it is likely to distract some readers. Garner notes that there are generally two sides to the argument: Group 1 is in favor of what it views as the traditional meaning, while Group 2 accepts what's viewed as the new meaning. Garner, a "skunked term" is a word whose usage becomes such a controversy that it can't be used without raising a stink. So they kick up such a fuss that the word becomes skunked.Ĭoined by Bryan A. The problem is that these critics don't like the change. They know what the word has traditionally meant (most of the time) and what it is currently being used to mean. They can spot a change in a word's meaning at 100 yards. These critics have their finger on the pulse of language change. Critics feel that the writer is using the word in an unauthorized way, that it's being using to mean what it does not mean.ĭecimate, such folks say, means "to kill 1 in 10" and not "to drastically reduce to wipe out." Literally can't be used to mean "figuratively," and hopefully means "in a hopeful manner," not "it is to be hoped." These words, and others like them, provoke so much ire in some readers that they become troublesome to use. I don't mean the message you're offering (though that's a possibility, too) but your word choice. To continue hoping when there is no (longer any) reason for hope.Write frequently enough, and someone, somewhere, is going to take offense to what you write. Rather, hopefully appears to be serving as a shibboleth to reveal whether a speaker is aware of the traditional canons of usage. But a significantly larger percentage-89 percent-accepted a comparable use of mercifully in 2012, indicating that it is not the use of hopefully as a sentence adverb per se that bothers the Panel. ![]() In 2012, 63 percent accepted this same sentence. In 1999, 34 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the sentence Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified. Resistance to this usage has waned over the years, but the gradual path to acceptance has taken much longer than other style choices that were bugbears in the 1960s, such as using impact or contact as verbs. People often warm to a usage once its novelty fades and it becomes well established.Only the latter could be continued with a clause such as but it isn't likely. Someone who says Hopefully, the treaty will be ratified makes a hopeful prediction about the fate of the treaty, whereas someone who says I hope (or We hope or It is hoped that) the treaty will be ratified expresses a bald statement about what is desired. ![]() The widespread use of hopefully in similar constructions reflects popular recognition of its usefulness there is no precise substitute. Frankly, the food at that restaurant is terrible. Many other adverbs, such as mercifully and frankly, are regularly used as sentence adverbs: Mercifully, the play was brief. Usage Note: "Hopefully, the senator will vote for the bill." Is this sentence saying that one hopes the senator will vote a certain way? Or is it declaring that when the senator votes, it will be done in a hopeful manner? In the first case, the word modifies the entire sentence (functioning as what is known as a sentence adverb) and means "It is to be hoped." In the second case, it modifies the verb phrase "will vote" and means "in a hopeful manner." Since the 1960s, when hopefully became something of a vogue word, its use as a sentence adverb has been roundly criticized on the grounds that it can be ambiguous (which meaning is intended?) and that the bearer of hope is not explicitly indicated (who is hopeful)? It is unclear, however, why hopefully was singled out for criticism. ![]()
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