Funnily, Sillily, Jollily, Uglily, and Friendlily Enough

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hey, Grant. Hey, Martha. This is Will calling from Boston.

What’s on your mind? So I’m calling about a phrase. Funnily enough is the phrase. It’s one

That I say pretty regularly and always feel somewhat kind of strange after I say it. Like,

Is that a real word? Funnily? Did I say it right? You know, it just feels strange. And I was listening

To a podcast probably a couple weeks ago and just a different podcast and the host said the phrase

Funnily enough and I was like oh like actual other people use this phrase I knew it was common but

I wonder if other people feel the same way about it the way it sounds as I do and yeah I’d love to

Know how it became a phrase and why it sounds funny especially compared to something like

Happily which is like the same grammatical form of the word but it doesn’t that doesn’t sound

Strange, but funnily it just sounds so strange. So anyways, I’d love to hear what you guys had to

Say about it. It’s perfectly legitimate. Let me ask you this, Will. Would you feel weird if you

Said strangely enough or oddly enough or curiously enough? No, I don’t think so. I’ve been thinking

About this for a while because I didn’t hear someone say strangely enough. And I was like,

Oh, well, that’s the same meaning or oddly enough. And yeah, it just doesn’t sound the same.

But why, like, why does it feel weird, you know?

Yeah, well, part of the reason is that if you add an ly to form an adverb that’s derived from an adjective that ends in y, it is going to feel weird.

I mean, take the word silly, you know, that becomes sillily or jollily, you know, jollily enough or uglyly or friendlyly.

But you know what? Those words have been used since the 1500s.

They’re not necessarily used very much, but you’ll still find some of those in dictionaries today.

Friendly, for example. But it sounds weird. And it’s because of that final why.

And, you know, I think the ends in funnily enough. Yeah. And sticking that L in there, it does feel weird.

I agree with you, although I heard myself say it last week.

So, you know, another reason that I think it might feel a bit uncomfortable is because traditionally people have insisted that fun is a noun and not an adjective.

And in fact, somebody who listened to me took it upon themselves to write in and criticize me for saying that something was fun or it was I think I was talking about a fun word or something.

And they wrote in and said fun is a noun.

You know, you can’t use it as an adjective.

Which is incorrect, just to be clear.

Yeah, yeah.

And if you look at reference works, they’ll tell you that increasingly fun is used as an adjective.

And even the comparative and superlative forms, funner and funnest.

I know that sets some people’s teeth on edge.

That’s a little cringy.

That’s a little cringy.

Well, that is the trend, and those are still regarded as less formal and more casual, but yeah, funnily enough, they’re becoming more common.

So you can use funnily enough in good health, and think of us every time you do.

I definitely will, for sure.

Thank you so much for your call, Will. We really appreciate it.

Awesome. Thank you, guys.

Take care now.

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