Questions e-mailed by forces20, Forum member (July 23, 2011):1. I often hear my professor saying “Anyways, let’s proceed to the topic...” Is her usage of “anyways” instead of “anyway” correct?
2. What do you think is the best substitute for the expression “at the end of the day”? It is the favorite tail end phrase in our classroom, but sometimes it gets so repetitive and awkward-sounding.
3. What is the meaning of “cutting edge” as used in this phrase: “Cutting Edge: The Politics of Reform in the Philippines.”
My reply to forces20:Here are my thoughts regarding your three questions:
1. The usage of “anyways” instead of “anyway” The expression “anyways” is nonstandard usage for “anyway” in the United States and Canada. That means it’s a dialect or informal speech, or what may be considered a colloquialism. For this reason, I think it's bad form for your professor to be bandying that word in class. I suspect he or she just wants to show off that he or she had lived for some time or had been educated in North America. Or, if your professor isn’t even aware that this usage of “anyways” is very unseemly, he or she had probably acquired it unconsciously from watching too many Hollywood movies on cable TV or video. This is because “anyways” is part of the American slang commonly used in movie dialogue involving not very well educated characters. In any case, in the context of the classroom situation you described, “anyways” sounds to me a tasteless affectation.
2. The best substitute for the expression “at the end of the day” I’m glad that you feel the same way as I do about “at the end of the day.” What’s the best substitute for this deceptively flamboyant but empty-headed expression? Well, that idiom really means “when everything else has been taken into consideration,” so, depending on the drift of the statement that comes with it, that expression can be said more simply as “ultimately,” “in the end,” or “after all.”
Did you know that in 2004, “at the end of the day” was voted as “the most irritating phrase in the English language” in a worldwide survey conducted by the London-based Plain English Campaign? I’ve been fighting the overuse of this unnerving cliché for almost eight years now, and have written no less than six columns against it and a few other dreadful clichés. I thought I had made at least a small dent in the propensity of Filipinos to use those clichés (
“Doing battle with the most irritating phrases in English”). This past year or so, however, there has been a frightening resurgence of “at the end of the day” in the airwaves and public forums because of the habitual use of it by some people in high places. Alas, now we also have to contend with the power of incorrigible bad example!
3. The meaning of the idiom “cutting edge”Strictly speaking, the title “Cutting Edge: The Politics of Reform in the Philippines” is using the words “cutting edge” in the sense of a metaphor for “the vanguard” or “foremost part” of something. When “cutting edge” is used in the phrase “on the cutting edge,” however, it becomes an idiomatic expression that means “to be trendy and very up-to-date” in something, as in this example: “The equipment installed in the new hospital is
on the cutting edge of medical technology.” At any rate, I have a feeling that whoever came up with the “cutting edge” kicker for that title had also intended to make this idiomatic meaning rub off on that title for effect—and successfully at that, I must say!
