SMART TALK
By Garrel S. Utter, R.N.

FEEL BADLY: At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, this problem is treated as a minor symptom of William F. Buckley Syndrome. The same patients also suffer from a compulsion to say indicated that instead of said.

Saying I feel badly, however, is really a grammatical problem. One doesn’t say You look beautifully. The correct beautiful is what trained experts call a predicate adjective. I feel badly means either that your emotions are on vacation, or that Braille feels like smooth paper.

I feel bad whenever I hear this pompous error.

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