timely as an adverb (UNCLASSIFIED)

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Aug 25 14:00:56 UTC 2010


I've heard this several times on the news, mostly (I'm certain) in allusion
to legal procedures.

It "sounds wrong" to me too.

JL

On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      timely as an adverb (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
>
>
> OED has "timely" as an adverb but with the notations arch., poet., and
> obs., with the most recent citation in three different senses from 1842.
>
> From  "Millender v. County of Los Angeles (
> http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/08/24/07-55518.pdf
> ):
>
>
>
>
> "Messerschmidt and Lawrence timely appealed the district court's
> determination that they were not entitled to qualified immunity."
>
> I would have said "appealed in a timely fashion/manner", but I'm not a
> Justice on the Federal Court of Appeals.
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
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