Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 5 down vote favorite

I sometimes hear people use "I hope you feel way better","This is way more than I was expecting" and etc. Could you explain this type of usage and what is the difference between "feeling better" and "feeling way better"?

share|improve this question
1  
simply, the addition of 'way' is an intensifier, a synonym of 'much' and ...I was about to say 'very' but grammatically that doesn't work... ' a lot'. The exact sonnotation of 'way' I leave to the real answers. – Mitch Dec 12 '11 at 14:45

closed as general reference by Mehper C. Palavuzlar, aedia λ, RegDwighт♦ Dec 9 '11 at 20:44

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

It's not the words so much as the metaphors they represent. Very is the usual adjective intensifier, but way, far, and much can also be used, even though they have other uses, because they're representing particular Metaphor Themes.

Way is short for a long way, which means the same thing as far. Both of them represent the common Life is a Journey metaphor theme in which whatever is being discussed gets mapped onto a Path, in which events are "traversed" in temporal order, so many expressions of physical movement and distance can be used for abstract purposes. Thus, if you've come a long way in recovering, you're way better; if you've come far, you're far better.

Much is a little different. Rather than a Path metaphor, this is a Container, with a volume that can be (metaphorically) measured, and thus terms for quantity and size can be used (like movement and distance terms in Path metaphors) to refer to anything one metaphorizes into the Container. Thus, if you have increased the amount of recovery, you are better by much, or much better.

Most of our thinking, and practically all of our language use, is metaphoric. See here or here for further examples and references.

share|improve this answer
That sounds very compelling. But do you have a reference for that particular etymology of 'way'? – Mitch Dec 12 '11 at 14:42
That isn't an etymology. Way has represented travel along paths since it was PIE *wegh- 'To go, transport in a vehicle'; derivatives include way, away, weight, wagon, earwig, devious, trivial, and vex. As for the metaphor, see Lakoff and Johnson 1980 for starts. – John Lawler Nov 14 '12 at 15:13
up vote 8 down vote

There are certain words that intensify the meaning of the comparative adjectives. Way is one of them. Much and far can also be used this way. Consider:

You are better at Maths than Sam. (He scores 15/20, you score 17/20.)

You are way/far/much better at Maths than Sam. (He scores 13/20, you score 19/20.)

share|improve this answer
up vote 5 down vote

"Way" here simply means "much". In effect, people are saying "I hope you feel much better". This use of the word "way" is common in North America and has been recorded in Oxford Dictionaries (check under the "adverb" heading).

share|improve this answer
1  
I think the use of way as an intensifier is most common among younger children, outside of the phrase way too, which is more commonly used by people of all ages. (If I hear someone say X is way better than Y, I think the speaker is likely young or perhaps speaks a dialect that's not mine; I would make no such assumptions if I heard someone say that's way too loud.) OP's example of feel way better sounds a bit strange to my ears, though. – onomatomaniak Dec 9 '11 at 17:31
"Way better" is very informal. If you are writing something formal, a way better choice of words would be "much better". – Jay Dec 9 '11 at 19:02
@onomatomaniak: it's not kids, unless you consider anyone born (at least?) since 1960 a kid. – Mitch Dec 12 '11 at 14:43

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.