Grammatical question

Off-topic
1

There is a phrase that I have been seeing in increasing numbers of late for some reason, and I am more and more intrigued every time I see it.

“Most every” and in smaller numbers “Most any”

…for example, “Thoughts to get you through most any crisis”.

It feels wrong… surely it should be “almost every”, but it appears all over the place in writings from people with otherwise impeccable grammar, so I’m just plain confused.

Americanism? Error? Grammatical construct I’ve not heard of before?

Someone, please put me out of my misery…

Phil

2

Not being a native English speaker I don’t feel qualified to reply. But to me these fall in the same category as “most all”, which I have seen a couple of times, and interpreted as a colloquial form of “almost all”. It might be predominantly American indeed.

Klaas Bil

3

But when did that ever stop you? :wink:

It is most likely an Americanism, although a search on google on these usages turns up an alarming number of hits. I will occasionally employ this construction when I’m trying to be folksy; something most anyone who knows me knows I’m not. :slight_smile:

The frequency of this usage though leads me to believe that it is not unlike the use of “less” when modifying count nouns, as in “there are less pedants than there used to be.” Strictly speaking it should be “there are fewer pedants…”, but most nobody understands (or cares about) the difference between “less” and “fewer” and the latter is heading into obsolesence.

My google search on (+“most every” +grammar) turned up this in reference to Shakespeare:

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

4

knowing the rules and deciding to break them for effect is one thing…

5

lets figure out what the mysterious word “teh” means before we move on to other pressing issues,shall we.?

6

Yes, that’s very true. But if we’re agreed more or less that “most every” is a violation of some grammatical rule then we have what might, by some, be termed a funny bit of prose in, “Somewhere in his works he violates most every rule of basic grammar”. Don’t we? :slight_smile:

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

7

on a count of three i’ll start feeling reeaaal stoopid for missing that

:roll_eyes:

8

I wholeheartedly concur. Let’s worry about speeling befour whe start wineing aboot grammer, oh-khe? Mostly, I kin spel ril goot, and I never wurry non aboot spilin. If u du not no hou to spil “almost”, thin itz purrfictly kewl to taip “most”. Just my too sense.

9

I find that the word teh usally arises late at night when the only thing keeping you awake is a large dose of caffeine every 20 minutes.

10

By careful application of the tip of a butter knife to one’s keyboard, the “h” and “e” keys may be interchanged, thus forever ensuring either correct spelling of the definite article “the”, or comradery with the legions of cross-fingered typists who are happy posting “teh”.

And a one, and a two, and a tehree…

11

I wish I could add something more useful, but I have also found that a lot of expressions in the Enlgish language make little or no sense, but have a meaning known to just about everyone. (I can’t think of any, but you have no doubt heard them.)

You wouldn’t believe the people in grade 8 who are not sure when to use “good” instead of “well” and “well” instead of “good”. It’s the little things. Or maybe they use adjectives in place of adverbs. Yes, that’s another thing that I cannot tolerate. Example:

  1. “He jumped over Jack quick.”
  2. “He jumped over Jack quickly.”

As you know, 2 is the correct sentence. My teacher spent about 15 minutes of an 80-minute class to explain this phenomenon to us. Of course, the commoners took note, but the rest of us knew the right way to write a sentence before we got to school that day.

(Harry Potter sucks, and LOTR rocks.)

12

(using the search feature effectively to place this post in it’s proper place…)

I read the article from which this snippet was taken:

[i]"Village People’s Original Cop Collared
By Sarah Hall, Tue Mar 28, 12:07 PM ET

The Village People’s original cop has run afoul of the law once again.

Victor Willis, the flamboyant disco band’s former lead singer, was collared in San Francisco Sunday after disappearing last year while drug and gun charges were pending against him. He was due in court Tuesday.

Willis was first arrested last July when police discovered a loaded .45, crack cocaine and assorted drug paraphernalia in his car during a traffic stop.

The ex-Village Person agreed to a plea deal…"[/i]

So would this guy be an ex-Village Person or an ex-Village People member? An alumnus of the Unicon College Dutchmen would be an ex-Dutchmen, not an ex-Dutchman, right? Then again, a former student of the University of Montana Grizzlies would be a use-to-be Grizzly. Not sure where to go with this. Care to settle a raging office debate?

Bruce

13

In the original example, “almost” is standard English usage.

In this context, “most” is an Americanism meaning “almost”.

Both are correct in context. Not all Americanisms are changes to standard English. For example, Americans often say gotten, whereas the English now say got. Gotten is the older form, and is comparable in form to words like broken, woken, and so on.

Unsurprisingly, as this is an example of snobbery, the sort of person who winces at gotten usually also winces at, “It is broke,” or, “Has he woke up?”

In a sense, they are being inconsistent. They should hate all three, or accept all three.

English is an exceptionally versatile and fluid language. Nouns become verbs, adjectives become adverbs, and prefixes and suffixes are added liberally. Etymology is no guide to usage. If you disagree, tell me how far you look through the telescopic forks on your mountain bike.

So-called standard English is only one dialect among many. Even here in England, there are significant differences in grammar, syntax and vocabulary between the dialects of different regions.

That said, I do believe that something approximating to standard English is preferable if you wish to make your meaning very clear. Regional dialects are often simplified, and rely heavily on tone of voice to convey an emotional meaning. A skilled user of standard English can be very precise about his or her meaning whether in writing or in speech.

The challenge, all too often, is to find a reader or listener who is equally precise, otherwise the effort is lost.

14

Hey, I know Jack Quick.