# How did "vs." mistakenly become "against" in English?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 27, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933 "2011-10-27T02:23:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933/1 "2011-10-27T02:23:08Z")

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Versus means "toward’.

How did the translation get messed up?

Any one know?

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**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933/2 "2011-10-27T02:30:01Z")

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Toward \> forward \> counter \> against.

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933/3 "2011-10-27T02:31:52Z")

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toward = facing = against

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-vs-mistakenly-become-against-in-english/600933/4 "2011-10-27T02:34:20Z")

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_Versus_ means “towards” in the sense of turned towards, facing. (“Towards” in the sense of “moving towards” is _ad_.) Two opposing armies or, in most sports, two opposing contestants, face one another and _versus_ is used to describe this face-off.

It came in to English through the legal usage; the plaintiff in a lawsuit was said to be _versus_ the defendant. It moved from there to the sporting context.