Who'd a thunk it?

[Wilson Gray]

On Jun 29, 2005, at 9:32 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Who'd a thunk it?
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> At 6:24 PM -0400 6/29/05, Page Stephens wrote:
>> Hopefully supposedly (supposably) isn't looked down on as much as
>> hopefully
>> is although supposedly I would guess it is.
>>
>> Page Stephens
>
> "supposably" is at least as looked down on as "hopefully", although I
> didn't count to see how many of the 14,300 google hits were devoted
> to bemoaning the use of "supposably" by others.  Presumably even some
> of those who grudgingly accept the latter because it is, after all,
> the only adverb meaning what it does (given that "it is to be hoped"
> doesn't count as an adverb), while "supposably" doesn't bring a lot
> more to the table than "supposedly" is already sitting there with.
>
> Larry
>

FWIW, I think that "supposably" sounds "ignunt." But I've been in love
with "hopefully" from the day that we met. I've never understood why
some people wish to argue against its use. In fact, I've never even
understood the points of those arguments. Different strokes for
different folks, to coin a phrase.

-Wilson

>>
>>>  [Original Message]
>>>  From: Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>>>  To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Date: 6/29/2005 6:12:52 PM
>>>  Subject: Re: Who'd a thunk it?
>>>
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>>>  Subject:      Re: Who'd a thunk it?
>>>
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>>>
>>>  On Jun 29, 2005, at 1:38 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>
>>>> For decades, I've been using the non-word "supposably" as a jocular
>>>> replacement for "supposedly." Today, for the first time, I heard
>>>> someone seriously use "supposably." It was a woman with the surname
>>>> "Zanquis" from Hartford, CT, on the Judge Judy Show.
>>>
>>>  ummm... wilson, back on 23 september, you asked me, on this list:
>>>
>>>     Arnold, do you have "supposably" already? It's *very* common in
>>> BE.
>>>
>>>  and inaugurated a thread on "supposably", "assumably", and more,
>>>  including some google counts.
>>>
>>>  arnold
>