Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.
Correcting the Errors of Your 'Ways'
A: The use of "way" as an intensifying adverb, meaning "to a great degree, much," as in "way off base" and "way more than I expected," has popped up occasionally in English ever since the 1300s. But it didn't become well- established in standard English until the early 1900s.
During the early 20th century, commentators frowned on this new use of "way," and it was generally restricted to set phrases involving distance or time, such as "way beyond," "way up," "way earlier," "way later."
By the 1950s, respectable writers were using the adverbial "way," even though it still bore a whiff of informality: William H. Whyte -- "� and that's way, way down"; William Bundy -- "� falls way short of what might have been done"; William F. Buckley -- " � the market � was way down." (Given the first name of these writers, you might say, "Where there's a 'Will,' there's a 'way.'")
In recent years, however, young people have been using "way" as a general intensifier and applying it to any adjective they can find -- "way cool," "way bad," "way random." These extensions of the adverbial "way" beyond the distance and time phrases may eventually become standard English; for now, they're not.
This use of "way" as a generational marker has probably made every use of the adverbial "way" sound nonstandard to mature ears. Even legitimate uses of "way" may seem suspect.
While I won't try to concoct a hard-and-fast rule about when to use the adverbial "way," you're safer doing so when "way" can be replaced with "much" than when it can be replaced with "very." Hence, "way beyond," "way nicer," "way richer" are OK, while "way annoying," "way nice" and "way rich" are, well, way annoying.
The "way better" used in the headline, for instance, falls into a gray area. "Much better" would certainly be more traditional. But "way better," while informal, can't really be considered nonstandard. Perhaps the headline writer was trying to appeal to the younger set.
"Younger set"? Did I just write that? Now there's a generational marker!
========
Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Copyright 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.
This news arrived on: 10/14/2009
Printer Friendly Version | Send this page to a friend | Post Comment
Rate This Story:
Great - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Bad
Posted Comments:
10-26-2009 02:49
Scarlett007 wrote:
Grammer
Frankly, I think people now a days are language lazy, please pardon the fact that my former perfect spelling seems to have taken a long hike away from me, of late! When I went to school, in the true instance of way back when; we were taught grammer, writing, puncuation, and true reading/writing skills. I know children who flunked every class and are still passed on thanks to the "no child left behind" idiocy! Well, I can't figure out how a child can learn what's being taught, if they have no foundation on which to base this new teaching? Good luck to all of us, and parents, please teach your kids to read before they get to school. It's the foundation of all learning! Tucson, AZ
10-25-2009 14:16
KarenAnne wrote:
anyways
I love the Word Guy!
You always make me smile if not laugh, while still giving all the "ways" and means!
Have you ever addressed one of MY pet peeves - people using the non-word "anyways"? While it IS showing up in dictionaries with the caveat of "nonstandard", I just want to do terrible bodily injury to anyone I hear using it! (j/k). I am NOT kidding when I say that for me it's worse than nails on a blackboard!
You always make me smile if not laugh, while still giving all the "ways" and means!
Have you ever addressed one of MY pet peeves - people using the non-word "anyways"? While it IS showing up in dictionaries with the caveat of "nonstandard", I just want to do terrible bodily injury to anyone I hear using it! (j/k). I am NOT kidding when I say that for me it's worse than nails on a blackboard!
10-15-2009 19:41
Cinboo wrote:
Way
I think "way" is not often added to an abjective. It is just "Way!" and the listener can interpret that as they like.
Comment archive | Comment FAQ's
 |
 |
View Vocabulary ezine stories by date or visit the complete archive |
The ArcaMax Politics channel is one of 70 content categories offered by ArcaMax Publishing on this ... |
VideoSquares.com
