“Feel Bad” and “Feel Badly”
How do you feel?
Language can be confusing for speakers and writers when they’re trying to convey their feelings.
If I Feel Badly . . .
When I’m conforming to the conventions and I say or write, “I feel badly,” I’m referring to my sense of touch. For example, years ago my hands were frostbitten. Now, during cold weather, my fingers are sometimes numb. When they are and I rub my nose, which was also frostbitten, I can say or write accurately and conventionally, “I feel badly.”
If I Feel Bad . . .
When I do something malicious, something for which I am sorry, I can say or write accurately and conventionally, “I feel bad” — that is, I feel rueful, remorseful, regretful. When I’m ill, I can also say or write accurately and conventionally, “I feel bad.”
Once More
“Feel bad” refers both to physical and to emotional conditions. “Feel badly” refers only to an unusual physical condition, like that to which frostbitten fingers and noses are subject.
* * *
Copyright © 2024 by John Porter. All Rights Reserved.
