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RSSAnyway, Any Way, or Anyways?
We writers often have to contend with compound words that begin their life as two words only to eventually morph into one. “Backyard” is a good example. It originally was two words, “back yard,” used to describe the area behind a house. Sometime in the mid-1600s, it successfully made the transition to a single compound word.
Then there are other compounds that are in limbo, somewhere in the midst of the transition from two words to one. Consider “health care,” a topic on everyone’s mind these days. If you Google it, you’ll get about 63 million returns for the two-word compound but a whopping 129 million for the single word “healthcare.” That’s a good indicator that the single word will soon be standard. However, most style manuals still mandate the two-word version.
To complicate matters even further, we have words with separate meanings as a single-word compound or as two individual words. “Anyway” and “any way” are two that often perplex writers. These are entirely different terms that do indeed have distinct meanings.
“Anyway” is an adverb, and it means regardless or in any event:
Marshall’s grades have slipped, but he plans to apply to Harvard anyway.
“Any way” is a paired adjective and noun meaning any particular course, direction, or manner:
Chloe is willing to help Marshall prepare for the SAT in any way she can.
Then we have “anyways,” a colloquial corruption of “anyway.” It’s universally considered nonstandard and should be avoided altogether. It might help to remember that “anyway” is an adverb, and adverbs can’t be plural.
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Actually, would use backyard as an adjective (backyard barbecue), and back yard as a place (the barbecue in the back yard).
And I’ve been accused of being a very early adopter of compound closures.
Anyways reminds me of a line from Eddie Murphy’s _Pluto Nash_, “Have you been bitching to my Moms?” That movie has it all, the love story, the gansters, the action – and as cheesy as it gets, with light-hearted comedy and freeze-dried chihuahua ready to be popped in the neutron oven.
I think of “anyways” as an emphasized-by-repetition form of anyway. That is, replace “Anyway, anyhow, anywhere, anytime, anywho” or “Anyway, any way, any way at all” with “anyways”. See? Multiple anyways for emphasis.
Thank for the post! I was just wondering, recently, why I hear so many folks say “anyways” – I hate that. I think it’s in the same category as saying “alls” I know, “alls” you have to do… ugh.
I hate ‘anyways’ too!
Glancing through my Chambers dictionary, I chanced upon “nowise”. It referenced the second meaning of no.
Noway, noways, or nowise [adv]; in no way, manner, or degree.
Anywhere is listed, buy anywheres is considered a North American dialect word. Anyways is considered a US dialect word.
I figure dialect and jargon are two faces of the same coin. They are useful in informed context, but not polite for public usage.
Who doesn’t hate “anyways” except ppl who use it….