"majorly" adjective [sic]?

Ann Burlingham ann at BURLINGHAMBOOKS.COM
Thu May 28 20:21:53 UTC 2009


On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      "majorly" adjective [sic]?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A correspondent reports to me that his 11-year-old son has
> started to use the word _majorly_ as an adjective. He is not
> confused about parts of speech; some of the reported sentences
> are "That was a majorly hamburger" or "Then this majorly wave
> knocked over the sand castle."
>
> Lest you think that this one example is some sort of eggcorn
> for _major-league_, he further reports hearing other -ly
> adverbs being used similarly, e.g. "The teacher gave us a
> ridiculously assignment" (i.e., an unacceptably large amount
> of homework).
>
> I bounced this off a few new-word-savvy people here at DSNA,
> and no one had heard of it; speculations included an extension
> from other -ly adjectives such as _princely_, and a shift of
> interjectional use ("Majorly!").
>
> Anyone else encounter this?

Nope, though I've said "I was majorly pissed off" or the like.

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