Done vs. Finished

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Serene calling from New York City.

Serene.

Hi, Serene. Welcome to the program.

Hi, thanks.

What can we help you with?

So I run the college prep program of an after-school program,

And my colleague and I teach writing classes as part of that

And sort of both pride ourselves on being grammar nerds.

And when one of the students finishes their work and says,

I’m done, he’ll correct them and say,

The work is done, you’re finished.

And so we kind of have a little dispute about whether there’s actually a difference between done and finished.

I think you can use them interchangeably.

And he says, no, you’ve got to say the work is done, you’re finished.

Why does he say there’s something wrong with done?

What’s his reasoning?

I don’t know.

He went to boarding school, and I feel like it’s kind of one of those things that your teachers say to you.

And, you know, so then he sort of just repeats that, I guess.

I don’t know.

He couldn’t articulate what the rule might be.

Yeah, yeah.

So he had teachers telling him that this was a hard and fast rule, right?

Right.

And you know what?

I didn’t go to boarding school, but I was told the same thing, and I was in his camp for a long, long time.

Who taught you?

Your mother?

Mean old Miss Booker.

I’ve talked about her before on the show.

She traumatized me with all these different rules of hers that were just so seemingly arbitrary.

And, you know, she would say that done is when you put in a cake.

And, you know, if somebody’s not done yet, then, I mean, I just want to stick a toothpick in them, you know, when they say that because of this traumatic grammatical experience.

But you know what, Serene?

I have finally come around on this.

And Grant and I have argued about this for years.

But I’m starting to feel like—

So you agree with me that I’m always right?

Every once in a while I do, yes.

Yes.

And let’s do this like couples therapy where I say what my radio husband Grant would say.

This is what couple therapy is all about, right?

Oh, please.

And let me just repeat to you, Grant, what you would say.

You would say that.

You’re going to leave out the obscenities, right?

Yes.

Okay.

That words have more than one meaning.

Big deal.

You can say a cake is done, but you can also say that a person is done with.

And, you know, if I said I’m finished, I mean, it doesn’t mean that I’m shellacked.

Right.

Well, you might be. Are you now? But it doesn’t mean that you have a shiny coat from a chemical, right?

Well, no, no.

It means that whatever you were doing is now completed.

Yeah. So, Serene, I have moved beyond where your colleague is. I think it’s beyond. Maybe it’s behind.

But just to kind of rephrase all that, I agree with Martha. Thank you for agreeing with me.

But this has been passed along from teacher to student for a very long time.

Miss Booker.

And there’s no historical evidence whatsoever that should be any distinction at all between done and finished,

Except one tiny little thing.

Finished is slightly more formal.

That’s it.

Well, I think so.

You know, when somebody says, I’m done, I’m sorry.

I can’t help getting a mental picture of a little kid in a high chair saying, I’m done.

Yeah.

And if you’re finished, it’s just a slightly more elevated form of speech.

And that’s the only real difference between these two particular meanings of done and finished.

Maybe he went to finishing school.

Maybe he did.

Can he walk with a book on his head without it falling?

I don’t know.

Well, that makes me feel like I won that argument then.

You did.

But the other thing to say to your friend,

Even though he’s wrong on the content of his message,

Is he’s just got to stop telling the joke.

Right?

It was funny the first time, maybe the second.

Right.

It’s like a match.

It works the first time.

Yeah, by the third time, just stop already.

We heard it.

Come up with something new.

So congratulations to me.

That’s great.

Thank you guys so much.

Sure.

No problem.

And we’ll link to some of those resources so you can check out the full detail on the history of done versus finished.

All right?

How are you going to break it to him?

He’ll be okay.

He will?

Bake it inside a cake.

Hold his hand while you’re telling him.

Thanks, Serene.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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