# Why isn't statally a word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528 "2023-08-13T21:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/1 "2023-08-13T21:16:25Z")
I wrote a sentence in another thread that talked about an effect working “locally, by state, and nationally.” That looks horrible. Why isn’t there a state-level equivalent for “locally” and “nationally”? The U.S. has had states for 224 years, and the concept was around long before then. Sure, local and national end in an “l” and that makes the -ly ending fit in nicely. You can add an “ly” to state. “Stately” is already a word. So it has one meaning. It could have another. “State” itself has multiple meanings. Locally, stately, and nationally. In context, everybody would get it. If not, we need a word. Statally would work. Why isn’t statally a word? It’s been two centuries! ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/2 "2023-08-13T21:30:35Z")
My computer version of the OED has “statal”, citing: > statal, a. > > 1. Of or pertaining to a State (of the U.S. or other federation), as distinguished from national. rare. > > 1862: E. Bates in Official Opinions Attorneys Gen. X. 388 “I have no knowledge of any other kind of political citizenship, higher or lower, statal or national.” > > 1880: A. TourgÉe Fool’s Errand & Invisible Empire ii. xi. 489 “Public education flourished as a part of the statal economy.” > > 1949: Times 7 Feb. 5/3 “All the states outside this special category have already been merged with provinces or have joined one or another of the six great statal groups.” So, statal’s a word, albeit a rare one. Statally obviously follows. A few other sites I checked briefly suggest “statewise” is the term of choice. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/3 "2023-08-13T21:42:36Z")
The process of wordification is overstuffified with mysteriosity. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/4 "2023-08-13T21:42:41Z")
I have absolutely read the words statal and parastatal. But the context was academic / professional prose on international relations. IOW, it’s a word used by _Foreign Affairs_ fairly regularly, the _New York Times_ or _Washington Post_ nearly never, and by _USA Today_ absolutely never. As always you have the confusion that in formal international parlance, a “state” is a region of land with a top-level internationally recognized sovereign government, while a “nation” is a cultural / ethnic / linguistic grouping. Conversely of course in informal USA parlance, the USA (and other countries) are examples of “nations”. In the USA 's case a “nation” that consists of 50 subordinate “states”. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2023, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/5 "2023-08-13T21:43:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > The process of wordification is overstuffified with mysteriosity. 'Tis perplexifications all the way downest. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/6 "2023-08-13T21:46:06Z")
_Provincially_ could work in some countries, except it’s taken on a different meaning. Each of the United States of A is sovereign in some sense, so _nationally_ should be the word used for them and _unionally_ used for the entire union of states. I’m pretty confident that won’t catch on. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/7 "2023-08-13T23:57:35Z")
Statal is obscure enough that [etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com) doesn’t list it. It’s not a great fit. I could see local, statal, national but not locally, statal, nationally. Ordinary readers would stumble. We should put AI on the case to write us a new vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/8 "2023-08-14T00:03:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Statally would work. Why isn’t statally a word? IMHO “statally” is too awkward a word to be used regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/9 "2023-08-14T00:07:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > IMHO “statally” is too awkward a word to be used regularly. We shall endeavour to persevere! ---
**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:** [August 14, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/10 "2023-08-14T00:18:22Z")
Natalie, Natalie You’re oh so statally Pursuing fine philately My double entendre laterally Needs a much better leering climax than I can think of right now. oh well. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-statally-a-word/988528/11 "2023-08-14T00:36:39Z")
Maybe when you come up with a word it can be used Statewide.