At 09:57 AM 8/17/2002 -0400, Mark A Mandel wrote: > > >#My problem with "hopefully" is exactly here. The illusion of saying more >#than is actually said irritates me. To me, this outweighs the advantages >#you mention. > >Suppose that, to most people, "Hopefully, S" (where S is a sentence) >means "I'm optimistic that S. I predict S, I'm not sure of it, but I >more expect S than not-S, and I prefer S." How would you feel about the >usage then? Interesting question, and worth thinking about. I think if I had been convinced that that was the meaning twenty years ago, I'd have conceded this battle as lost sooner than I did.