“Nevermore” Quoth the Raven

Unfortunately writers today seem to be quothing the Raven “evermore" than Poe, who created the conjoined forms “nevermore” and “evermore” as stylistic artifice for his poem “The Raven”.

Nevermore and evermore have nothing on today’s writers’ misuse of everyday, a handy word that means mundane, ordinary and commonplace. They frequently mean “every day”, as in happening once during each daily passage of the sun. The distinction once was clear. “Everyday” was boring. “Every day” was routine. Now each sentence using “everyday” has to be read carefully in an attempt to discern the author’s intent.

It’s not always clear, either. Do the educators at the University of Chicago intend the K-6 mathematics curriculum called “Everyday Mathematics” to describe humdrum, boring, uninteresting math, or neat math techniques and skills that get used every day? I’ll be damned if I know, and the Chicago mathematicians are likewise damned by the lack of precision in their product’s name. We can only hope the same lack of precision doesn't extend to their math curriculum.

It’s in the New York Times, and probably the Times of London. The editors don’t know the difference, won’t impress it on their writers and can’t be bothered to make it a hit in their spell checker.

There is an important – not even subtle – difference between every day and everyday. Our ability to communicate clearly is poorer for the demise of its recognition.

Rick Carey
February 5, 2007