For/To all intents and purposes

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, Benjamin, I agree with you. It should be, IMO, "for all intents
and purposes." I don't think that I've ever come across the "to"
version in the wild, though I may have and simply not noticed it.

-Wilson

On 1/10/07, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      For/To all intents and purposes
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I sent in a dictionary correction for this item and was told that the
> expression is "to all intents and purposes". The citation given me as
> evidence is
> http://www.faqfarm.com/Q/Is_the_saying_%27all_intents_and_purposes%27_or_%27all_intense_purposes%27.
>
> To me, "for" sounds much better" and I don't see a reason to cite one or
> the other as being correct (and Google gives over a million hits for each).
>
> Another point in my favor is the citation actually claims "to" is
> correct" but then gives "for" in its example.
>
> Most of the citation:
> -----
> The correct phrase is "TO all intents and purposes" which dates back to
> the 1500s and originated in English law, where it was to all intents,
> constructions, and purposes. The phrase is generally used to compare two
> unlike acts or deeds, i.e., "She went to his room and drank with him,
> which he viewed - for all intents and purposes - as consent to sex."
>
>  From being misheard and repeated, people also say "FOR all intents and
> purposes" but that is a product of the original phrase being misheard
> and repeated.
> -----
>
> Can anyone provide guidance here?
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Baking the World a Better Place
> www.hiroki.us
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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