Hopefully, Now Accepted by AP Stylebook
Hopefully,
this bit of news won’t upset you language purists too much: the Associated
Press Stylebook has just affirmed that they’ve approved the use of
"hopefully" … via (gasp!) Twitter, no less:
“We now support the modern usage of hopefully,” the
tweet said. “It is hoped, we hope.”Previously, the only accepted meaning was: “In a hopeful
manner.” As in, “?‘Surely you are joking,’ the
grammarian said hopefully.”This is no joking matter.
“We batted this around, as we do a lot of things, and it
just seemed like a logical thing to change,” says David Minthorn,
the deputy standards editor of the Associated Press. “We’re
realists over at the AP. You just can’t fight it.”
