# Using "well" grammatically **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285 "2016-10-21T22:16:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/21 "2016-10-23T02:02:25Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > ‘Well’ has been morphed by teenagers into an adjective meaning very. > > “'e’s well fit innit…” > “She’s well fat, poor cow.” Sounds to me like simply a shortening of a longstanding idiom used in both British and American flavors of English: “She’s well and truly fat, the poor cow.” I suspect most Americans will read “well and truly” as a Britishism. Which if true, supports the observation you’re seeing the shorter form in Britain while the US folks above are not. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/22 "2016-10-23T21:15:02Z")
Humans pepper their speech with a lot of filler. “Um”, “you know”, “like” and so forth\*. “Well” can do double duty here. Both as filler _and_ intensifier. It’s a win-win! (Well, maybe not a “win” so much.) If you _don’t_ put such filler in your writing representing normal speech, it will come off as abnormal and/or formal. It can be used to help fill out the personality of a character. (As long as you use the same type of filler for the character.) - Much to the dismay of Southern US grammar purists, I hear “y’all” being used this way quite often. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/23 "2016-10-24T00:29:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The “um” pause instance of “well, …” typically occurs at the beginning of sentences and is at least preferable to the regrettable “so” that we hear far too often. The phrase “so so” must drive you crazy then. 🙂 For what it’s worth, since this is GQ, “so” has been used as an introductory particle since about 1700. It’s actually a fairly old usage. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/24 "2016-10-24T00:37:58Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > (She also wrote _ **“from whence”** _ 3 times. ARRRRGGGH!) You might want to stay away from Shakespeare’s 48th sonnet. A full 7% of the stanzas begin with this usage. 🙂 Again, since this is GQ, I feel I should point out that “from whence” is extremely common, dating to the early 1400s at the latest. How careful was I when I took my way, Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, That to my use it might unused stay From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust! But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are, Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief, Thou best of dearest, and mine only care, Art left the prey of every vulgar thief. Thee have I not locked up in any chest, Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art, Within the gentle closure of my breast, From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part; And even thence thou wilt be stol’n I fear, For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/25 "2016-10-24T03:26:47Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > You might want to stay away from Shakespeare’s 48th sonnet. A full 7% of the stanzas begin with this usage. 🙂 Again, since this is GQ, I feel I should point out that “from whence” is extremely common, dating to the early 1400s at the latest. > > How careful was I when I took my way, > Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, > That to my use it might unused stay > From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust! > But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are, > Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief, > Thou best of dearest, and mine only care, > Art left the prey of every vulgar thief. > Thee have I not locked up in any chest, > Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art, > Within the gentle closure of my breast, > From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part; > And even thence thou wilt be stol’n I fear, > For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear. I guess I can cut ol’ Willie a little slack. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/26 "2016-10-24T19:45:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Peanuthead, give us those six sentences using “well” from the book and tell us how you would rewrite each of them to fit into the style you want to use. The one example given was “Uselessness is, well, useless.” Though I have no objection to that form myself, it could be written in a less conversational form: “Uselessness is, obviously, useless.” “Uselessness is, of course, useless.” “It goes without saying that uselessness is useless.” “Uselessness, by definition, is useless.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/27 "2016-10-24T19:50:36Z")
I mostly use _well_ in the following manner: You: Hey Omar, how are you? Me: I’m well, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/28 "2016-10-24T19:54:11Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > It’s potentially self-informing, to notice when some language usage habit in others, becomes iritating to you. > > I suggest pondering it a bit when you discover you are annoyed, not to figure out as the thread starter did here (so far at least) what sort of pejorative label to assign to the speaker/writer, but rather to discover what the speech/writing habit reminds you of, that would result in the negative emotions. Yup, here’s linguist Mark Liberman on the issue: [The Social Psychology of Linguistic Naming and Shaming.](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004244.html) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/29 "2016-10-24T20:05:32Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > ‘Well’ has been morphed by teenagers into an adjective meaning very. > > “'e’s well fit innit…” > “She’s well fat, poor cow.” > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’ve never heard a teenager use “well” in that way. I realize that you’re British and listening to different teenagers than I am, but I lived in England from 1987 to 1990 and have been back 11 times on vacation (including five weeks in this September and October) and didn’t recognize that as the way that teenagers talk. **Wendell** , It’s a widespread and well established British idiom, now decades old (I’m a London native). It’s used with particular frequency with certain (also colloquial) adjectives. “well fit” = very attractive > **[BBC News - Say what? A parents' guide to UK teenage slang](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/school_report/8551273.stm)** > > School Reporters up and down the country have been asked about teenage slang in their school. “well chuffed” = very pleased [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g8NroLwQZys/hqdefault.jpg ""Well chuffed 'bout that"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8NroLwQZys) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/30 "2016-10-24T20:18:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The term might be used as the blunt instrument that was alluded to by the two examples in the OP, but more often, a synonym is used. “They called him Tiny because he was, well, not very big” seems to me to be a more common usage, which authors use to indicate that someone is stating the obvious, but obvious as it is, it is worth noting. If you remove “well” from the expression, the reader will think it an absurd redundancy, and the “well” is put in there as a marker of explanation: Yes, I know goddam well that it is a redundancy, but there exists a context in which it is appropriate. This is the closest to what I was thinking. “Well” in the OP’s first example essentially stands for, “Even though I know I just said _tiny_, it really is the best word for the situation, so pardon the redundancy; I’m about to use it again…” I get it, and I think it can be a fairly effective tool for emphasis. Perhaps what irks **Peanuthead** is the author’s overuse of the technique. I’m not sure I’d choose the word _lazy_, though. ---
**Author:** ![Debs181](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Debs181](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debs181)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285/31 "2016-10-24T23:06:01Z")
These sentences have two features, repetition and interjection. Purdue University’s OWL website is a good resource for points of grammar and their webpage on sentence construction seems to indicate that these two examples would fit the definition of a compound sentence: [https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/02/](https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/02/) Purude University’s OWL website also has information on parallel structure (repetition) in sentences: [https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/](https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/) Butte College’s Center for Academic Success has a webage with tip sheets on grammar and their sheet on Interjections uses “well” as an example: [https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/interjections.html](https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/interjections.html) Based on these sources, your sentences appear to be compound types with interjection and parallelism. You might try contacting the reference librarians at the Internet Public Library at [Frequently Asked Reference Questions | ipl: Information You Can Trust](http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/) to see if they can assist you further. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-well-grammatically/769285.md?page=1)