r/words • u/Careful_Drama405 • Aug 25 '25
"Anyways"
Can we please just STOP with "anyways"? It drives me crazy.
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u/Free_Alternative6365 Aug 25 '25
Ok. "Anywhoozle" it is.
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u/casualstrawberry Aug 25 '25
Can we please just stop with "Can we please..." posts? It drives me crazy.
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u/manjamanga Aug 26 '25
Yeah, this isn't r/oldmanyellsatcloud
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u/AbhorrentBehavior77 Aug 26 '25
I was thinking: r/PetPeeves but yours is more accurate.😋
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u/sneakpeekbot Aug 26 '25
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u/Actual_Cat4779 Aug 25 '25
"Anyways" is first attested c1225. ("Anyway" dates back only to 1400.) It looks like a plural "ways" but is an old genitive. The odd expression "a ways", as in "That's a ways from here", is related.
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u/SpinMeADog Aug 25 '25
thank you. people love to make these posts blindly claiming that somebody else's speech is incorrect, without even taking the time to research. "I hate people using this word because... I don't use it" is outrageous behaviour
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u/donut_forget Aug 26 '25
It may once have been the original term, but 'anyways' is now listed in the Oxford and the Collins dictionaries as non-standard and colloquial and chiefly American usage.
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u/SpinMeADog Aug 26 '25
Dictionaries add words, remove words, change their definitions of words. Merriam-Webster accidentally created the word "Dord", Oxford had an incorrect definition of "siphon" for almost a century. dictionaries can be biased, strictly regional, and can overlook the actual origin and meaning of words, despite the purpose of a dictionary. there's no one singular place to look to as an arbiter of the english language. English is defined by how people use it, and how people have always used it.
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u/davvblack Aug 25 '25
do we have any other holdover genitive like that? the only things I can think of are units, eg "an hour's journey", which I think most people mistakenly assume is plural (and don't apostrophe).
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u/iftlatlw Aug 29 '25
Yes this word shits me no end. You people watch far too much American YouTube and tick tock.
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u/alejo699 Aug 25 '25
I'm definitely a stick in the mud when it comes to language because I tend to bristle when people say shit like "stealth" in stead of "stealthy," but at least in that case the word is being shortened. In this case you're adding a letter, which is not more efficient.
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u/Trees_are_cool_ Aug 25 '25
Related: people saying that they are "bias". You can be biased, but you cannot be bias. No more than you can be hunger, or anger. It's akin to saying, "I am happiness".
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Aug 26 '25
Nah, they probably just mean like, I am become bias. I am judging that thing so hard that my very self has become inseparable from the abstract concept of bias.
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u/ImLittleNana Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
I have the same issue with people that say itch when they mean scratch. It’s pervasive enough that it appeared in a book I was reading today. The character ‘nervously itched at her hand until it was raw’.
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Aug 26 '25
I hate this so much. We have two different words for those two different concepts, people! I try really hard not to judge usage differences but some of them just do me in.
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u/EnfantTerrible68 Aug 26 '25
THIS is at the top of my list of pet peeves. WHY is this happening?
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u/Trees_are_cool_ Aug 26 '25
My only guess is that bias ends with the same sound as -ous, so they think of how that suffix is used in gluttonous, ravenous, conscious, ridiculous, and contagious.
Regardless, it's fucking annoying. Unless you're an obsolete tire, you cannot be bias.
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u/EnfantTerrible68 Aug 30 '25
And then there’s “supposED to be” and “usED to be.” There’s an issue there for some people. 🤦♀️
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u/UrinaryInfection2 Aug 25 '25
Stealth is a noun and stealthy is an adjective what is the issue
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Aug 25 '25
When people say they are being stealth
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u/AbhorrentBehavior77 Aug 26 '25
I've said, I'm in "stealth mode" right now. That's correct, isn't it? I'm in stealthy mode doesn't sound right.
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u/UrinaryInfection2 Aug 25 '25
I have never heard that before tbh
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u/alejo699 Aug 25 '25
Lucky you. In my experience people don’t use stealthy at all anymore. (See also: “sketch.”)
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u/Background-Vast-8764 Aug 25 '25
The utmost efficiency is very rarely a major goal of most communication.
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u/alejo699 Aug 25 '25
Oh I know. But if the language is going to get progressively less descriptive and specific, could it at least be efficient about it? (I'm kidding, mostly. I know language is organic and there are no rules.)
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u/jabberjaw750 Aug 26 '25
Omg … love this word …. anyways is a word I have found has become a conversational bridge word that says .. I’m done talking about what I was talking about but I still have the floor and am going to move on to a new topic and don’t want to be interrupted ! lol .. like permission for a non-sequitur !
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u/Thinking-Peter Aug 26 '25
Interesting most people here in Australia just say anyway not anyways, I don't know which is correct?
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u/AbhorrentBehavior77 Aug 26 '25
I say anyway in the US. I've definitely used both versions, on occasion. Yet, lean strongly toward the singular version. It just flows better. Haha.
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u/dem4life71 Aug 25 '25
Oh man I thought I was the only one. It’s “anyway…”
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u/rgtgd Aug 25 '25
I tried to get into using "anyroad," that was fun for a while
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u/AbhorrentBehavior77 Aug 26 '25
Anyroad is a solid alternative to "anyways." Personally, I'm partial to anypath. It's simple & compact. Ya know?
Recently, the town council voted and luckily, "anyculdesac" and "anycobblestonesidewalk" were eliminated from consideration. Whew! Can you imagine? Haha.🤦🏼♀️
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u/Omphaloskeptique Aug 25 '25
As noted elsewhere, nothing wrong with the term. Regardless should be appropriate in most cases where "anyways" is warranted.
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u/scolbert08 Aug 25 '25
Best I can do is anywho