Temps in the low single digits forecast for hell

Hopefully, this news won’t irritate you as much as it will the grammar police. Associated Press, publisher of the widely used AP Stylebook, has decreed hopefully that writers and editors will accept its new policy on “hopefully.”  The bottom line: It is now perfectly acceptable to use the word in the sense of “I am hopeful that . . . .”

Hopefully, you won’t count me among those outraged by this change. Although I try to avoid this usage in my own writing – it’s a bit of a cliche -- I’ve long since stopped trying to wean writers off it. The biggest issue I have with the usage is that the reader can’t quite be sure who is expressing this “hope.” In many cases, it is simply the writer voicing his or her own opinion on the matter.

Hopefully, you’ll be judicious in your use of hopefully in its new approved sense. It works best when part of a direct quote. “Hopefully, we’ll have lower food prices next fall,” said Joe Schmo. Now you know who is being hopeful.