Everyday

How many times do you see the word everyday used when the user means every day? When I went to school, the word everyday meant common, usual, ordinary: “He wore his everyday outfit, jeans and a t-shirt.” Contrast that to every day, which means each individual day. “Every day she drives to work except on weekends.” Several years ago I ran across a magazine ad for Toyota. The slogan they used was, “Toyota. Everyday.” I was shocked! I had worked for an advertising agency in my late twenties and was acutely attuned to using the correct words. I sent a letter to the agency that produced the Toyota ad and pointed out their misuse of the word. The very next week, the same ad appeared again, corrected to “Toyota. Every day.” (Even though corrected, it was still a dumb slogan in my opinion.)

On our bank’s Web site, they use the term Logout to close the online session. Logout is different from Log Out. Log Out is an action—when finished with whatever you’re doing on a site, you Log Out.

Not to be a fuddy-duddy, but during my life I have seen many terms change their form from two words to one, or even from several words to an expression using capital letters. Probably only a few of my readers will remember this one: LS/MFT. It was used by a cigarette brand and meant Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco. The military term SNAFU comes to mind. LOL started out meaning Lots Of Love. Then it became Laughing Out Loud. What’s next? Liver and Onion Lunch? Lovers Often Lose?

Here’s one that may surprise you—did you know that the term “today” was as recently as the late 1940s expressed as To Day or To-Day? That was news to me when I discovered it while researching some old advertising.

I finally succumbed to the realization that in spite of my protestation, the world moves on. “Thingschange. Ohwell, getusedtoit,” Ithought. “Whatthehey any way.”