Oftenly

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

For some other reason? Yes, try blending: "often" + "frequently."

Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Michael Quinion
Sent: Wed 8/22/2007 3:39 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Oftenly



A subscriber pointed out that a large number of examples of this form can
be found online (and I've found examples in newspapers). The OED says "Now
U.S. regional (rare)", which is clearly outdated. Would its reappearance
be the result of hypercorrection, or for some other reason?


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>

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