High Hopes

Usually I gripe about everyone else’s spelling and grammar errors (while probably making plenty of my own), so perhaps today’s post will be a breath of fresh air. It does say something, however, about the state of the English language that I am pleasantly surprised when I stumble across the correct usage of a word. “Hopefully” is right up there with “nauseous” when it comes to errors made so frequently that you draw more attention to yourself by using the word properly than by making the mistake. Pronounce the “e” on the end of “forte” and nobody bats an eye; drop the vowel and people look at you as if you’re an idiot, no matter what the dictionary says. I tried for awhile, in high school, to answer “How are you?” with “well” instead of “good,” until I met someone who did the same and realized how pretentious it sounded. So, to the dismay of the persnickety chorus of grammarians that I imagine hovers just above my shoulder, I say “good” — and share responsibility for the sorry state of the language.

As usual, I digress. The point is, I was happy to discover that a writer for the NYT Sunday Magazine is doing her best to prevent English grammar from going to hell in a Twitter- and text message-induced handbasket. This is how Susan Dominus begins an article about a Hollywood screenwriter:

If Aline Brosh McKenna were to write a script about her life, it might open with McKenna, wavy-haired and underdressed, hopefully showing her work to a series of unsmiling magazine editors in New York.

Most people (mis)use the word “hopefully” as a stand-in for “It is to be hoped that.” While there are a few online dictionaries that accept this loosened definition of the word, traditionally “hopefully” is an adverb. It describes how you do something and means “in a hopeful manner.” Dominus uses it correctly; the screenwriter shows her work hopefully, in a hopeful manner. We’ve been so conditioned to accept the second sense of the word that I initially read uncertainty into the sentence. Is McKenna showing her work? Well, “hopefully” she’s showing it, but maybe she was hit by a bus on the way to the meeting.

Given the persistence of my aforementioned chorus of grammarians (is there such a thing as a grammar conscience?), I can’t side with the laissez-faire school of thought that would be OK with the statement “Hopefully, we can go to Disneyland this summer.” Yes, that’s how everyone uses “hopefully,” but the fact that everyone does something wrong does not make it right. We’re not going to Disneyland “in a hopeful manner”; we’re hoping that we’ll be able to go.

I probably have as much chance of winning this battle as I did the one over “well” and “good” or “nauseated” and “nauseous.” I can only hope that, by rambling on about it, I can bore my readers into submission. I suppose you could say I’ll be rambling hopefully.