Everyone Misuses the Word “Hopefully”

“Hopefully” means “in a hopeful manner.” Thus we can say, “The UFO enthusiast looked hopefully toward the sky, sure that the strange ship would return.” But it is wrong to say, “Hopefully, the ship will return,” or “Hopefully, the Red Sox will win the World Series.”

These folks seem to think we sticklers are being too hard on people when it comes to this word. Still, this is a good point to know.

Thus ends my one non-ideological post of the year.

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9:03 pm on July 6, 2004