To Do it Hardly, a Linguistic Reflection
(I hardly knew how hard it was to work hard at this job, for I hardly worked at the jobs I have worked in the past). Have you ever had someone, whether it be a co-worker or someone else, come up to you and ask, "Are you working hard, or hardly working?" Of course anyone who said so would say it was meant as a joke, of sorts. One never wants to consider him/herself as "hardly working." Joke or not, the linguistic side of me had an odd thought, and caused me to think "deeper inside the box," so to speak. Let's take the two words "hard" and "hardly" and give them a closer look. When we see the words, a bit of English logic would tell you that one of them is the adverb form of an adjective of the same root. So if something is done hardly, it should be in a strong or solid fashion, something done with great force. In this situation if something is hardly done, it has an almost opposite kind of emphasis. Making the meaning more like the ...