Brad Stanhope: Like I Was Sayin'
We surrendered.
We found a white flag, waved it and let the barbarians through the gates. We admitted defeat – we embraced defeat. Or at least those who are supposed to protect us from the barbarians surrendered.
Last month, Dictionary.com – presumably the leading online dictionary, based on its name – added new words. Some were important words. Some reflected a change in the language.
But then there was this: One of the new words is “supposably.”
Yes. Supposably. The word that people mistakenly say when they mean supposedly.
We joked about it for years. We used it to illustrate someone saying a word wrong. We even smirked when someone used it.
(Wait. As I read that sentence, I realize that “we” are kind of jerks. Language bullies. Sorry. “We” will work on that. Supposably.)
When the website announced the new words in March, it came after a year of pandemic and racial unrest. The new words reflected that.
COVID-19 was added as a word, as was the phrase hybrid learning. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) was added, as were the phrases universal basic income and critical race theory.
Our language is always changing and those additions are reasonable. New words are fine.
But to add a word that’s wrong is just . . . wrong.
Supposably is not a real word. No one who says “supposably” really means it. They mean supposedly.
Yet Dictionary.com now says they’re fine.
It reminded me of an experience early in my journalism career, when a co-worker wrote an article in which he described an ugly building as an isor.
He meant eyesore. He just hadn’t ever seen the word in print, so he spelled it isor.
The editors didn’t react by adding isor to the list of words we could use. They edited. They changed the spelling to the correct word.
What’s next? Are we going to start drinking expresso? Worrying about nucular war? Going to the libarry? Calling something a mute point?
I say no. I say we need to keep the barbarians at the gate!
English isn’t easy. And I’m not proposing that we require everyone to speak perfectly. I’m not even saying you should be ridiculed if you say supposably instead of supposedly.
I have my own issues with speaking and writing. I get affect and effect wrong virtually every time I use them. I sometimes mix up it’s and its. Compliment and complement. I have no idea when to use lay and when to use lie, so I avoid them both.
But here’s the thing: In those situations, the responsibility is on me to (finally) learn how to use words correctly, or at least look them up in a dictionary.
Because I count on dictionaries to be reliable. They tell me how to correctly spell a word.
It’s not the job of a dictionary to tell us anything is OK. It’s the dictionary’s job to indicate what is correct.
I’m not a language prude, but I stand with the truth: A dictionary embracing an improper word will affect all of us and the effect will be negative.
See? I got it right after I used a reputable dictionary.
Reach Brad Stanhope at b[email protected].
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