Why is "hopefully" bad English? -- was "Re: assumably"

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at UMR.EDU
Sun Sep 26 20:42:01 UTC 2004


I've always been puzzled about "hopefully" being dismissed as bad English.
The German equivalent is "hoffentlich," which is not only perfectly acceptable but seems to be used more than "ich hoffe" (= I hope).

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of RonButters at AOL.COM
> Sent:         Sunday, September 26, 2004
> Subject:           Re: assumably etc.
>
        <snip>
> Nobody seems to be teaching that HOPEFULLY is "bad English" in the snazzy high  schools that my students pass through.
        <snip>



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