Who'd a thunk it?

[Peter A. McGraw]

Yeah, but I don't think any of those is a true substitute for "hopefully."
When I say "hopefully" (which I always tried not to if my parents were
within earshot), I don't mean I, we or anybody else specifically hopes.  I
mean something like "no doubt anybody would hope."  So I need an impersonal
construction.  "It is hoped" meets that requirement, and I suppose "one
hopes" does, too, but both are a little too pedantic for colloquial speech
or casual writing. And they somehow lack the globality that "hopefully"
offers

Also, "it is hoped" may be  the same number of syllables as "hopefully,"
but it's three words, or four if you add the "that" that you need if you
want to attach it to another clause.

All in all, "hopefully" does the most work with the greatest economy.

Peter Mc.

--On Friday, July 01, 2005 4:22 PM -0400 sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
wrote:

> Yeah, but........"I hope,"  "we hope,"  "one hopes" are all SHORTER than
> "hopefully" and "it is hoped" is no longer!
> Still squirming uncomfortably here in the corner,
> AM



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************