I'M WONTING

Mona Lisa commented that I am the only person she had ever heard use the phrase "as is my wont" (see National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day article from April 12).

Mr. Kelley, my high school history teacher, used to say "as is my wont" and "as it were" and back then, we would make fun of his usage, but I still use those phrases now, as does my brother, and as we use them, we usually remind ourselves of Mr. Kelley's continuing influence, as it were!

See this from one of my favorite sites Grammarphobia:

"The noun "wont" means a habit or custom, and it can be pronounced several ways: like "wahnt", or "wunt", or "woant". Here's a good illustration of its use, from an 1851 issue of Harper's Magazine: "The elegy was concluded and I was raptureizing even more vehemently than was my wont, when whack, I received a blow on my shoulder." So, the expression "as is my wont" means as is my custom or as I usually do. Example: I get up late, as is my wont, but I managed to get to work on time."

There used to be a verb, "wont", now long obsolete, that meant to do habitually, or to make someone or something accustomed to. The verb was used in its past participle form (both "wonted" and "wont") as an adjective meaning accustom. Thus, a nineteenth-century observer might have said, "I drove my wonted carriage to the ball," or "I am wont to walk to church."

Similarly, something "unwonted" was unfamiliar or out of the ordinary.

The Chambers Dictionary Of Etymology says the adjective was developed in medieval times from an Old English verb ("wonen" or "wunen"), meaning dwell or accustomed. The noun "wont" came from the adjective."

As is my wont, I like "old-fashioned" words and phrases, and appreciate Mr. Kelley's influence.