I FEEL BAD

After publishing the BLOG posting SACRED COWS, a reader who just happens to be the subject of the article, challenged my writing "I feel bad..." and asked the question, "Shouldn't you have written I feel badly?"

NO! NO! NO! I welcome corrections and this person is a careful reader who has pointed out errors in the past, which I have appreciated, but of course, she is wrong about "I feel badly" versus "I feel bad".

BAD is an ADJECTIVE; BADLY is an ADVERB! Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns, thus "I", the pronoun, feel BAD! Adverbs modify verbs: e.g.: "He was BADLY injured." Didn't people learn about adjectives and adverbs in school or do they just think that "badly" sounds better?

I have referenced this in several other BLOG articles because the use of "I feel badly" in Number 2 on my RANKLE LIST, right after the use of "have went", rather than "have gone"! CLICK HERE to see the BLOG article WHY DO I CARE?

Do people say or write I FEEL MADLY , I FEEL SADLY, I FEEL GLADLY, or I FEEL HAPPILY? Of course not; then why "I feel badly"?

I recall Miss Digman, my high school teacher of English, grabbing the hand of a classmate who had uttered the unpardonable phrase "I feel badly", and said, "You feel BAD unless your fingers aren't working properly!"

A friend who likes Celebrity Apprentice told me about that boorish Trump attempting to correct Cyndi Lauper when she said, "I feel bad." and he said, "You feel badly."; unfortunately, she let him get by with that bullying attempt at correcting Lauper. I can't imagine anyone being able to tolerate Trump long enough to watch that show, but "de gustibus non est disputandum". (That's my favorite Latin quote: "There's no disputing about tastes.")

I don't feel a bit BAD about disliking Trump!