# Odd (but common) usage of “may”

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 2, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785 "2013-01-02T00:40:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785/1 "2013-01-02T00:40:29Z")

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\*“I may be an adult, but sometimes I suck my thumb.”

“You may be my best friend, but sometimes I don’t like you.

“I may have a high IQ, but I can’t figure this out.”\*

In all three cases, the “may” phrases describe something that’s an established fact, and the “but” phrases are the “exception to the rule.” Usually “may” phrases describe something conditional, that could be decided one way or the other, e.g. “It may rain tomorrow”. How did this alternate usage evolve?

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**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785/2 "2013-01-02T01:25:03Z")

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Because the exceptions throw the ‘fact’ in doubt.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785/3 "2013-01-02T01:37:55Z")

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Sounds like this is in the sense of a “concession” in[usage 3](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/may). Doesn’t indicate anything about the evolution to that sense, though, and my OED is at work.

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-but-common-usage-of-may/645785/4 "2013-01-02T01:41:26Z")

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It’s perfectly legitimate. Words often have more than one use or meaning.

> [@Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary (bolding added)](#):
>
> Main Entry:may  
> Function:verbal auxiliary
> 
> 1 a archaic : have the ability to b : have permission to _you may go now_ : be free to _a rug on which children may sprawl — C. E. Silberman_ — used nearly interchangeably with can c — used to indicate possibility or probability _you may be right__things you may need_ — sometimes used interchangeably with can _one of those slipups that may happen from time to time — Jessica Mitford_ — sometimes used where might would be expected _you may think from a little distance that the country was solid woods — Robert Frost_  
> 2 — used in auxiliary function to express a wish or desire especially in prayer, imprecation, or benediction _long may he reign__may the best man win_  
> 3 — **used in auxiliary function expressing** purpose or expectation _I laugh that I may not weep_ or contingency _she’ll do her duty come what may_ or **concession _he may be slow but he is thorough_** or choice _the angler may catch them with a dip net, or he may cast a large, bare treble hook — Nelson Bryant_  
> 4 : SHALL, MUST — used in law where the sense, purpose, or policy requires this interpretation  
> usage see CAN