The word "ilk" and its abuses

JKSCHW at aol.com JKSCHW at aol.com
Fri Sep 1 08:20:51 PDT 2000


Frankly, we should get over these Mr Language Man worries about ilk and its ilk, and hopefully eventually we will. --jks

In a message dated Fri, 1 Sep 2000 1:11:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Eric Beck <rayrena at accesshub.net> writes:

<< Joanna Sheldon wrote:


>(I still stiffen at the wrong (i.e., post-WWII,
>derived-from-German) use of "hopefully" but that, too, is a lost cause.)

I've never understood this quarrel. I mean, I get the distinction that's being made, but the people who object to that usage of "hopefully" don't object to the similar usage of "eventually" or "frankly" or other adverbs. Why does "hopefully" get singled out? It's like saying a word can't have two meanings (or usages), but most words have multiple meanings (or usages).

Eric, who quit his copy-editing job just two weeks ago and can't believe he's already discussing grammatical minutiae

>>



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