Saturday, February 8, 2014

No "well wishes" from Walt

I am reading a blog headed "Former high school bully congratulates gay victim after seeing marriage proposal online". But gay victimhood is not what this post is all about. No indeed. Heard too much about that already. This post is about proper English usage.

The lead-in for the piece in question is "Well wishes are customary after an engagement. But a congratulatory note from a former high school bully is not one you might expect." Memo to Lakshine Sathiyanathan: You may wish to extend "good wishes" to another gay victim, but there's no such thing as "well wishes"!

I'm not going to put the error down to Blogger Sathiyanathan's not being a native speaker. I have heard and seen that error several times in recent months, notably in lamestream media reports of tragedies of various kinds -- the reports that quote some politician or celebrity as saying "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims". When they add, "You can post your well wishes on such-and-such website," I tune out.

Dear gentle "writers"... "well" can be an adjective or an adverb. [Or a noun! Ed.] You may be well pleased. You may well wish someone well, as opposed to ill. But the wishes you extend ought to be GOOD...or even BEST...not "well".

Memo from Ed.: I have read and do hereby endorse this message. Good said, Walt!

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