Welcome to the Wordlady blog!

This blog is about the fascinating, fun, and challenging things about the English language. I hope to entertain you and to help you with problems or just questions you might have with spelling and usage. I go beyond just stating what is right and what is wrong, and provide some history or some tips to help you remember. Is something puzzling you? Feel free to email me at wordlady.barber@gmail.com.
You can also order my best-selling books, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to do With Pigs and Only in Canada You Say. Fun and informative!

Subscribe!

Subscribe! Fun facts about English delivered weekly right to your inbox. IT'S FREE! Fill in your email address below.
Privacy policy: we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any point.

Search This Blog

Friday, June 27, 2014

The Back of Beyond

I don't know if you've noticed, but the word "beyond" has acquired a new function recently. It has always been an adverb, meaning "farther away, on the other side", and is related to the now mostly defunct word "yon". 

 

But in the last few years it has taken on a different adverbial function: modifying and intensifying adjectives, especially positive ones like "happy", "excited", "beautiful", and "thrilled", although I have recently seen "beyond insane" and "beyond jealous", but the winner seems to be "beyond angry", as in the following (keep scrolling down after the chart, as there's a bit of a gap before the post continues): 



  Here is the earliest example I could find on Google Books, from 1976 (you can thank me later, Oxford English Dictionary).

The Man who Loved Beauty - Page 6

books.google.com/books?isbn=0060135840
Leonard W. Robinson - 1976 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
I had turned, in a kind of slow dreamlike turn, and there was the goddess herself, Zeus's wife, standing beside me in the flesh. And she was beyond beautiful. She was Beauty itself.

 

from 1983 

Double Love - Page 11

books.google.com/books?isbn=0440422620
Kate William, ‎Francine Pascal - 1983 -
"And now she was beyond happy that she'd made the decision to keep it to herself. Todd and Jessica. It makes perfect sense, Liz thought. The star of the football team would go for the the captain of the cheerleading squad.."


This is a work of teen fiction (I bet you would never have guessed), so rivetingly described that I know you will want to rush out and get a copy: "WELCOME TO SWEET Valley High—a world of good girls and bad girls, hot boys with fast cars, perfect tans and natural highlights . . . all under the Southern California sun."

If it weren't for the 1976 quotation above, I would therefore wonder whether this usage started in Valley Girl slang, if the authors were making a conscious effort to emulate the usage of their protagonists.

 

  I also found this early one for "beyond angry": 

Business as Usual - Page 179

books.google.com/books?isbn=0671536907
Linda Wisdom - 1984 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
No, she was beyond angry. From the time Casey had walked out of the house until Kate's arrival, Drew had had plenty of hours to think over Casey's words. The tears had dried up, the trembling lower lip stiffened, the sniffing silenced and ... 


As far as I can tell, this is romantic fiction (never say I don't introduce you to great literature!).


You are no doubt beyond thrilled that I have brought this to your attention. Beyond ecstatic, even (goodness, we are excitable and hyperbolic these days). In fact, if I had entitled this post "Beyond takes on new adverbial function", it would probably have gone beyond viral.


What other adjectives have you noticed that are modified by “beyond”? Let me know in the comments.

1 comment:

  1. Hello,

    It's been my feeling that "beyond" could be used with virtually any adjective (and ... beyond!), in order to convey that the adjective/etc. thus modified is somehow not a match (i.e., it is surpassed) by the thing it tries to describe.

    For example: "It is beyond shameful", or "Their shamelessness is beyond belief" etc.

    It's something else I needed to ask, with your permission:

    ""Beyond takes on new adverbial function", it would probably have gone beyond viral.

    What other adjectives have you noticed that are modified by “beyond”?"

    I was going to ask about the first use of "beyond" in my quote above: should it not be written between quotes, because it is about the word itself, it's not the word "beyond" as part of communication.

    Then I noticed you put it between quotes in your next paragraph, in possible confirmation to my objection. It reminded me, however, of the fact that I don't really know the rules for quoting, when quotes already exist in the quoted text ...

    I once asked a Linguistics professor about my developing an intuition for English. I was assured repeatedly, persistently, almost aggressively that I stood no chance: one is born with that (if I understood that well, of course).

    Regretfully, I wasn't convinced. and, in any case, I have nothing better than intuition to rely on, in most cases.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
Canada's Word Lady, Katherine Barber is an expert on the English language and a frequent guest on radio and television. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Her witty and informative talks on the stories behind our words are very popular. Contact her at wordlady.barber@gmail.com to book her for speaking engagements; she can tailor her talks to almost any subject. She is also available as an expert witness for lawsuits.