Talk:well

suspicious minds

I'm slightly suspicious of the examples in the adverbial section. These seem more like attempts to analyze the idioms well done and well-known. On the other hand, we do have less idiomatic examples like "I know them well" and "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well." The question is, can these particular senses occur with verbs other than do in the one case and know in the other? For example, "She sings well. seems like the first sense. Similarly, "You painted the wall well. seems to emphasize more that you put on an even coat without drips than that you didn't miss any spots (which is also in there, but not with any particular emphasis). My guess is that the do and know senses are peculiar to those verbs, and if so should be noted as such. -dmh June 27, 2005 16:29 (UTC)

I think you are right (don't let it get out that I agreed with dmh on something) and if anyone has a reason to disagree I think the onus probably should be on them to demonstrate why. Aren't the comparative and superlative forms also for the adjective? --Connel MacKenzie 27 June 2005 16:51 (UTC)

Spare tire well

I suggest add the meaning of spare tire well . — This unsigned comment was added by 212.166.228.223 (talk) at 19:19, 4 May 2007 (UTC).

first word of an answer

often and often whan you ask a question to a politician or other, the first word of is answer is "well" possibly to get two more seconds for reflexion.

I suggest to add this meaning Sneaky 013 21:33, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

It's an Interjection, definition 3. Conrad.Irwin 21:39, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

And when one uses questingly(sp?) it to point out that one's waiting for an answer (for example) and is getting impatient? \Mike 22:14, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

I'd say that was the same sense as above (interjection, definition 3) - a gap-filler to indicate that the other person should be filling the gap. We're also missing I think a similar sense for (deprecated template usage) and. Thryduulf (talk) 22:53, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, I'm not so sure - at least to my ear (which of course is heavily influenced by the Swedish translations) they are quite different (and they will at least need different translations for Swedish!). \Mike 14:39, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Try taking the discussion to the tea room for more opinions, as I don't think the two of us are likely to come to agreement on our own! Thryduulf (talk) 15:54, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

When someone says "Well?", they're not filling a gap -- they're saying "What is your response?" I think that this use needs its own entry.

Is there a tea room discussion of this? Duoduoduo 17:11, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

There seems to be more to it than just a "pause" when you start a sentence with "well". In the example given in the article "Well, I am sorry." the "well" diminishes the "I am sorry". "Well", in this case makes the "I am sorry" feel forced, as if the person did not really want to say it, but felt forced to.

In another example, given by prof. John McWorther he suggests that it is a "nod to ignorance in this case" "Why don´t wolves eat horses" "Well, horses run fast".

It may have started as a pause, but now a "well" start has a variety of meanings depending on the context. DanielDemaret (talk) 16:17, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

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This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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well

Rfd-redundant: slang UK intensifier, with usage example "Well wicked"

This seems like the normal degree sense applied to a slang term. Am I missing something? DCDuring TALK 22:19, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

It "feels like" a separate sense to me. "That film was well good" seems ungrammatical in normal English. You'd say it was "very good" or perhaps "well made". When I read "well good", "well wicked" etc. I immediately know it's extreme slang usage. Equinox ◑ 02:48, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, it is fairly redundant to the definition above, but this one needs the context templates {{context|British|informal}} (not really slang), where as "this author is well-known" definitely isn't (British, informal). Mglovesfun (talk) 15:20, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps (deprecated template usage) wicked needs some tag it doesn't already have. I've read that it has been used in what seems like the same sense in parts of the US, where its usage has radiated from New England, especially eastern Massachusetts. "Well" is an ordinary degree adverb. Much of the pool of such can be used interchangeably. There may well be regional differences in their relative frequency, but we haven't documented them. I can't imagine that we can document (attest) spatial and temporal changes in register of colloquial SoP collocations usefully enough to make such differences a rationale for keeping terms that would not otherwise meet CFI. I think we (en.wikt community) may be coming to the time where we have to challenge some of the more ambitious claims of meaning and distribution that are being made and used to justify inclusion arguments. Either attestation or references rather than assertions would help. DCDuring TALK 17:26, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

I have added three citations. Note the very slangy register (e.g. "Hey dude" in one of them). Equinox ◑ 13:27, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

That the word is used with informal or slang terms doesn't make it slang. I doubt anyone can find any difference in denotation between the word as used in the more formal examples I have inserted and the slangy cites.

The previous usage example with "known" made is seem more like a manner adverb modifying as it did something that probably was not a true adjective, but a past participle used as a part of a passive construction. The inserted citations are all with unambiguously true adjectives, I think. DCDuring TALK * Holiday Greetings! 16:39, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

But it doesn't mean the same thing as the other senses. The only one that comes close is "Completely, fully"; but "well good" doesn't mean "completely good" or "fully good", only "very good". Equinox ◑ 18:34, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Based on a comparision of BNC and COCA, it seems that "well" is used with words that express evaluation (cool, strange, stupid, weird, worthy, nice, funny, wicked) or personal emotional state (glad, happy, chuffed, annoyed) in the UK much more than in the US (familiar, content, worthwhile). Both corpora show use with a wide range of other pure adjectives (past, short, shy, clear, wide, open; early, late, old, dead; aware; able, capable) and past participles. Does that constitute a separate sense or does it merely narrow the list of possible synonyms that could substitute in all situations? DCDuring TALK * Holiday Greetings! 19:41, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I can't see any difference of this usage from the "(degree) To a significant degree" usage. How is "well good" or "well cool" different from "well capable" or "well content"? It's still the same "well" just intensifying other adjectives. If "well cool" or "well wicked" come into common use, maybe they could be idioms. Until then, it's just an author's or speaker's choice of which words to put together. Facts707 09:01, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Also, couldn't we just put an entry under "usage notes" for wicked, good, etc. that says in the UK people use "well" in front of them, but elsewhere that is not done, instead really, very, extremely, and any number of other adverbs are used. Facts707 09:27, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Delete per DCDuring. Perhaps add a usage note.​—msh210℠ 18:09, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Nah keep, a "well-cooked steak" can never be nonstandard or colloquial. Not can I order a "very cooked steak". Perhaps the only difference is the context labels ((British, colloquial)) but that's enough for me. Mglovesfun (talk) 20:22, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

{{look}}

Kept for no consensus.--Jusjih 03:21, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Gap filler example

The example given for the gap-filling function of "well" is

(colloquial) Used in speech to fill gaps; filled pause.

It was a bit...well...too loud.

I don't think this is a good example. This is an example of a meaning something like "I'll go ahead and say it rather than politely suppress it". I think the only time "well" is used as a gap filler (="er", "um") is at the beginning of a sentence. Duoduoduo 17:11, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

It's the first word of many a blues song. It's much better than "er" or "um" when used like that. Also songs like "Well, I've never been to Spain" -- Three Dog Night. It takes the place of nothing when the lyric begins on the first half-beat or the second beat. "Well, now it's three o'clock in the morning, and I can't even close my eyes" -- B. B. King, "Three o’clock Blues". “Well, there’s one kind-a favor I’ll ask of you." -- Blind Lemon Jefferson, “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

Welp

I'm disappointed to find the Americanism "Welp" hasn't been mentioned anywhere on the page. Welp, I'm gonna add it in n00b fashion if one of you wiki addicts doesn't do it properly first ;-) — This unsigned comment was added by 208.185.20.30 (talk) at 23:12, 30 July 2013 (UTC).

 Done —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:15, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

Brilliant! You win a free Internet! — This unsigned comment was added by 208.185.20.30 (talk) at 23:45, 30 July 2013 (UTC).

"Nobody can well get to her"

What sense is this? (It's obsolete in modern English, except as very well, e.g. "you can't very well do that"). Equinox ◑ 19:07, 24 May 2017 (UTC)

• 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

  “No, nobody can well get to her,” says the squire, “for she is under lock and key. I have her safe; I vetched her from my lady cousin the first night I came to town, and I have taken care o’ her ever since; she is as secure as a fox in a bag, I promise you.”

@Equinox:

You use well after verbs such as 'may' and 'could' when you are saying what you think is likely to happen.
Ours could well be the last generation for which moviegoing has a sense of magic.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/well

--Backinstadiums (talk) 17:43, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

preceded by could, might, or may: indeed

preceded by could, might, or may: indeed: you may well have to do it yourself
https://www.wordreference.com/definition/well
CAN is often used to make fairly confident but not absolute assertions, in contrast with could, might, or may

--Backinstadiums (talk) 10:26, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

justly and appropriately

adverb: with justice and good reason
I could not very well refuse her request. 
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009

--Backinstadiums (talk) 10:40, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

In that sentence, very well has a completely different meaning from well. See very well. Equinox ◑ 14:58, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

it's as well not to offend her

What meaning is used in it's as well not to offend her ? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:41, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

#3: prudent, well advised. Equinox ◑ 17:45, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Agree —DIV (1.129.111.71 12:20, 28 March 2021 (UTC))

most well

best reads Adverb, superlative form of well: most well --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:12, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

https://oed.com/oed2/00282616 --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:06, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

E.g. in the most well-known issues Backinstadiums (talk) 12:14, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

adjective: fortunate; good 2. In a satisfactory condition; right or proper

It is well that you stayed 2. : All is well --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:09, 31 July 2020 (UTC)

be doing well

be doing well: to be getting healthier after an illness; to be in good health after a birth --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:40, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

all is not well at home.

​[not before noun] in a good state or position It seems that all is not well at home. Is this also the one in the hypercorrected meaning? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:52, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Hypercorrect usage.

The entry currently marks
“How are you?” — “I'm well, thank you!”
as "hypercorrect". Presumably because something that usually functions as an adverb has been used in a way that has been analysed here as adjectival. (Possibly also something related to the dual meanings of "good" as "favourable" and "moral"?)

In any case, I want to check a related usage. Consider the following:
①“How are you doing?” — “I'm doing well, thank you!”
②“How's everything going?” — “I'm going well, thank you!”
③“How's it going?” — “I'm well, thank you!”

In ① and ②, it seems to me that "well" is clearly used as an adverb, and should not be marked as hypercorrect (unless perhaps in some U.S. vernacular). In ③, looking only at the response, it could be argued that "well" is used as an adjective, and so is hypercorrect. Alternatively, with reference to the precedents of the patterns in ① and ②, and considering the question posed, it could also be argued that ③ is an example of ellipsis in which a verb (most likely "going") is implied, and so "well" functions as an adverb, and is thus correct (not hypercorrect).

Finally, based on the above analysis, the original example could also be analysed as possible ellipsis, with "well" in the role of an adverb that modifies the ellipted verb ("doing" or "going", say), being correct rather than hypercorrect.

Does this make sense to others? If so, are any changes needed to the entry?

—DIV (1.129.111.71 12:36, 28 March 2021 (UTC))

I think it's more likely that "well" is used in ③ by analogy with ① and ②. "I'm doing good" is commonly proscribed, so people avoid the word "good", thinking it is wrong in all three cases. Of course, how different speakers actually perceive this could vary from person to person. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 04:58, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Yes, your perspective seems reasonable. Although it's only a slight difference between analogy and ellipsis in this case, perhaps. —DIV (1.129.106.200 23:23, 2 April 2021 (UTC))

I only think well of her.

THINK [~ + adjective + of + object] to consider a person or thing as indicated: I only think well of her. 

Is well here really an adjective? The same dictionary says well is a noun in wish well to someone. --Backinstadiums (talk) 14:29, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

to a significant degree

Significant here is ambiguous. See usage not at significant --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:12, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

wul

I've seen the interjection written as wul as a pronunciation spelling --Backinstadiums (talk) 01:13, 11 March 2022 (UTC)