Thursday, April 27, 2017

Let's Suppose...


(The above illustration doesn't really relate to the subject of today's post, fellow babies... but I couldn't find anything that was more appropriate! Sorry!)

I hate it when people use the word "supposably" when they mean "supposedly." And yes, unfortunately, "supposably" is really a word, even though most spell-checkers don't recognize it as such. (Good for them!) It just doesn't mean what most people think it means. "Supposably" is discussed at length here, and in case you don't feel like clicking on the link, here's the section of the article which most succinctly describes the use and misuse of "supposably:"

Though the strict grammarians at BuzzFeed have lamented that our world is ending because so many people use supposably, it is a valid word that is recorded in several dictionaries of English, including Dictionary.com. However, it has historically carried a slightly different meaning than supposedly; supposably means “conceivably.” Most people use it interchangeably with supposedly, which is technically incorrect (despite the fact that the meaning is typically understood).

So there. Does that make everything clear?

But... you're not really one of those who uses "supposably" instead of "supposedly," are you?

Thanks for your time.

29 comments:

  1. I didn't even think it was really a word. That is one I've never used. I can see someone accidentally spelling it "supossadly" but why in the heck would anyone think the d should be a b? Dyslexic?

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    1. People just don't pay attention. That, and the fact that people don't read as much as they used to (except for the internet, which is loaded with errors), so they don't see the correct spelling of words. That's how we get people saying things like "pacific" when they mean "specific." They just don't pay attention, so they repeat what they thought they heard.

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  2. Im agree with you !
    Sounds really curious !!

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    1. Unfortunately, I hear it more and more as time goes by. I'm sure the dictionary will someday list "supposedly" and "supposably" as interchangeable.

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  3. I don't think so. Can't remember doing it. But I have always been an awful speller.
    I adore the quote no matter what!
    Perspectives at Life & Faith in Caneyhead

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    1. Yes, it's a good quote, even if it doesn't really relate to the post!

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  4. What disappoints me is that so many of the "news" articles online are simply regurgitation of someone else's blog posts, with no effort made to look for facts or additional information. Plagiarizing at its finest.

    I think one of my favorites still remains an article which discussed Texas possibly "succeeding" from the remainder of the United States. And I would have thought it to be sheer ignorance, but the article had an equal number of occurrences of "seceding" in there, so clearly the so-called "writer" didn't bother to proof through someone else's errors and ignorance.

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  5. Oh the pet peeves we have. I rarely use supposably. I personally dislike "arguably" as in, "He is arguably the best superhero ever." What that says to me, is that one can argue about the superhero being the best, when what the person means to say, is that one cannot argue that the superhero is the best. So then it stands to reason the word to use should be, inarguably, which means it cannot be argued. "He is inarguably the best superhero ever."

    That said, English is a wonderful language in that it changes and grows and expands as needed. Why once, long ago, "nice" used to mean ignorant, foolish, stupid!

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    1. I accept that the English language changes over time. What I resent is when so many people make a mistake, the makers of dictionaries, sources of grammar rules, etc. give up and change things

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  6. Heavens, my level of grammar has now been conclusively proved pitiful, nothing unsupposable about it. Didn't know that supposably was even a word let alone use it wrongly or rightly or anything in between. Thank you for enlightening me. Thank you also for the support through out April, much valued!

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  7. I suppose the supposably comes from suppose and able/ably :) But still not the right way to say it!

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  8. I most certainly don't use the wrong word. LOL. Excellent post. Much truth.

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  9. I'm sure I've used language that bug others (e.g. Isn't this a fantabulous day or what?) but I can assure you I haven't used the word "supposably" before.

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    1. Words like fantabulous and ginormous have legitimately entered the English language. But supposably with the same meaning as supposedly hasn't... yet.

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  10. I honestly had no idea that "supposably" was a real word. Now I can't say it's not when I hear people use it... oops! I love the Mark Twain quote... but then I love pretty much everything Mark Twain said.

    By the way, I was nominated for the Mystery Blogger award, and now I nominate you. You don't have to accept you don't want to, but it was fun to do. You can read about it on my blog, if you're interested.
    Doree Weller

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    1. Thanks for nominating me. I'll check out your blog and see what that entails. I usually don't play along with awards, but we'll see..

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  11. As a former English teacher, I sometimes feel my teeth throb when I read some missteps in grammar. :-)

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  12. He he - I never have and probably never will use 'supposably'. Daft word if you ask me!

    Susan A Eames at
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

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  13. No, I'm not or I would have to fire myself. Excellent post. Great quote, too.

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