# Will "too" become "to"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089 "2014-04-27T02:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/1 "2014-04-27T02:36:13Z")
Lately I’ve noticed people not writing out _too_ and only writing _to_ when they mean _too_. Anyone else notice this? Are these people lazy, clueless or what? I suppose this is one way written languages change. Someday _too_ will be considered _archaic_. Anyone else seeing other English words changing because of misuse? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/2 "2014-04-27T02:43:55Z")
I blame the Internet, where _4_ means _for._ ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/3 "2014-04-27T02:54:54Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Anyone else seeing other English words changing because of misuse? Your not alone. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/4 "2014-04-27T03:07:06Z")
“To” is already “2”. Maybe “too” will become “2oo”? Nah. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/5 "2014-04-27T03:17:02Z")
Slightly off-topic, but I’ve got an e-book on my Kindle that was written about the then colony of New South Wales back in the 1830s. It was written by an Englishman for an English readership. Now, the language from this period has long been a favourite of mine, as it’s just a tad more flowery than today’s, but that was more the writing style of the time, and not the language itself, which still reads as pretty modern. However, I saw one thing I’d never seen before: instead of “firstly” and “secondly”, the author used “1stly” and “2ndly”. Just had me thinking, “Wow, that guy was an early internet adopter!” ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/6 "2014-04-27T03:28:47Z")
Well, language is a constantly evolving thing, but I think that the misuse of “to” would have to be a _lot_ more common for the actual meaning to be changed. Right now all it is is a typo - most people know how to use it, but when you’re writing in a hurry it’s the kind of thing that easily slips under the proofreading radar. Then again, I still can’t believe they’re considering changing the definition of “literally” to mean “figuratively” because people switch them up, so whatever . . . ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/7 "2014-04-27T03:54:18Z")
Barring typos, they’re clueless; they’re also the same people who don’t understand apostrophes or semicolons. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/8 "2014-04-27T04:06:54Z")
Welcome 2 Costco, I love you. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/9 "2014-04-27T04:10:38Z")
Their, their. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/10 "2014-04-27T04:11:51Z")
If you don’t know the difference than you can use words similar sounding and it makes no more difference then anything else now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/11 "2014-04-27T04:13:44Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Your not alone. Et tu? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/12 "2014-04-27T04:58:53Z")
The wink smiley wasn’t for nothing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/13 "2014-04-27T05:58:44Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Slightly off-topic, but I’ve got an e-book on my Kindle that was written about the then colony of New South Wales back in the 1830s. It was written by an Englishman for an English readership. > > Now, the language from this period has long been a favourite of mine, as it’s just a tad more flowery than today’s, but that was more the writing style of the time, and not the language itself, which still reads as pretty modern. However, I saw one thing I’d never seen before: instead of “firstly” and “secondly”, the author used “1stly” and “2ndly”. > > Just had me thinking, “Wow, that guy was an early internet adopter!” OT/Huh? Can it be true? Is our very esteemed **TheLoadedDog** back on the board?/OT Hi! Welcome home TLD. How’s the recuperation going? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/14 "2014-04-27T06:02:08Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Right now all it is is a typo - most people know how to use it Right. This has nothing to do with language changing, as the OP implies, because it’s a question of spelling, which is just artificial convention, as opposed to natural speech. People have always misspelled words, but that’s not because they’re using different words. The spelling changes that came about in the past did so because there was no social mechanism in the English-speaking world to propagate consistency until relatively recently. Now that there are mechanisms to maintain such consistency, there’s no reason for the producers of all the English dictionaries in the world to change the spelling of a word just because the OP happens to notice this particular misspelling in unpublished texts. If people in one particularly small town started to forget ZIP codes on their mail, would the Post Office then eliminate the ZIP code? [QUOTE=scratch lll] If you don’t know the difference than you can use words similar sounding and it makes no more difference then anything else now. [/quote] In fact, _to_ and _too_ are not similarly pronounced in normal speech, so there would be even less reason to “change” the spelling of one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/15 "2014-04-27T06:20:13Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Now, the language from this period has long been a favourite of mine, as it’s just a tad more flowery than today’s, but that was more the writing style of the time, and not the language itself, which still reads as pretty modern. \*\*However, I saw one thing I’d never seen before: instead of “firstly” and “secondly”, the author used “1stly” and “2ndly”. > > Just had me thinking, “Wow, that guy was an early internet adopter!”\*\* Ben Franklin was an early internet adopter 2. Perhaps u & other readers here know of his famous letter [“Advice to a Young Man”](http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/franklinmis.htm) (1745) in which he lists reasons 4 a young man 2 hook up w/ an older mistress. The last of the reasons is labeled (in most quotations of the letter) as: 8thly and lastly ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/16 "2014-04-27T14:47:55Z")
**guizot,** do you mean to and too aren’t similarly pronounced because they’re identically pronounced? Two, too, and to are homophones as far as I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/17 "2014-04-27T14:54:33Z")
The only one I see so much that I think will become a real word is “alright.” It is supposed to be “all right” but as there are so many words like “always” “although” or “already” it makes sense that people make the mistake, and it also makes sense for it to be spelled that way really. So I figure one day it will be officially accepted as such. I think most other frequent errors or typos probably won’t be accepted as easily. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/18 "2014-04-27T15:03:14Z")
Don’t aks me. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/19 "2014-04-27T15:29:27Z")
Cause textn K? Thx ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089/20 "2014-04-27T15:31:18Z")
First, this is not a language change. I think they are ultimately the same word. I know that in German, “zu” means “to” but also, in one context, “zu” (“too fast” is “zu schnell”). And they are homonyms except that in most usage, “to” should be spelled “t” or maybe “t’”. Second, who cares? Well, obviously most of the posters to this thread do, but I sure don’t. There are language changes I really do care about, ones that amount to a loss of meaning, such as the difference between “uninterested” and “disinterested” which are more and more being used as synonyms. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-too-become-to/687089.md?page=2)