miriam webster defines the word "whenever" as:
a) conjunction: at any or every time that
b) adverb: at whatever time
The misuse of this word in place of the word, "WHEN" is killing me right now. Its rampant on the campus where I work and ugh. Everytime I hear it used incorrectly it grates on me.
Examples:
(from this morning) "I like to be awake whenever I swim."
(from my softball women) "I wore this shirt whenever I went there that time."
(from various college students) "Whenver I was at dinner yesterday....."
ARGH. Can I get an "amen" from those reading this blog who agree with me that the misuse of this word is painful at best and confusing at worst? My brain (which is not as sharp as it was in its 20's...) has to do mental gymnastics in order to re-configure the sentence so that it makes sense to me.
And worse........... I'm afraid that because of our tendancy as humans to "pick up" the language of others (for example the use of the phrase: "was like" replacing "said" in the vernacular. She was like, "oh my gosh" and I was like, "yeah") that this usage will become common place. And I'm even more afraid that I will pick it up, against my better judgement and against all correct way of speech.....
All that being said, if you hear me use the word incorrectly, please tell me. Please.
And what do you think - should I correct the people that are in my influence circle that they are using it wrongly or is it not a big deal? Its rampant around the softball team and doesn't make them sound intelligent, though I know they are.
Is this just a rural issue, a dialect, or have you noticed it where you live?
I'll keep you posted. Whenever I find out more information I'll let you know.
:)
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2 comments:
this entry confirms the fact that you will LOVE the banquet - because there is one part of the senior presentation that deals with lesson's we've taught coach - and one of them is that "irregardless" (which he says ALL the time) - is NOT a word...and even if he can try to argue that he's negating a word that does exist - it's at least not the word he needs to get the message across :) ...so -i hear ya..it drives me crazy sometime...but lately i've realized it could be worse - i could be talking to that guy i interviewed with yesterday (there are more than just grammer problems down there ;)
Yeah, I think you should correct people whenever they say that word wrongly. Hee hee!
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