Word Confusion: Surely versus Surly

Posted September 15, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
12 July 2023

Surely, she’s a surly woman when she encounters a surely man who is surly running fast. Aye, ’tis indeed a gruesome sight and a horrible sound, lol. And shocking how one teeny letter can make such a difference!

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Surely versus Surly” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Surely	Surly
This quote from Airplane is one of the top 100 quotes from the movies: Striker: “Surely you can’t be serious?” Rumack: “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”	Three Portraits by John Cosmo Clark is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — The top two men look rather surly.
Part of Grammar:
Adverb	Adjective
A more formal usage than sure Emphasizes the speaker’s firm belief that what they are saying is true and often their surprise that there is any doubt of this Without a doubt, certainly With assurance or confidence	Bad-tempered Unfriendly [Of an animal] Ill-tempered or refractory Dismal [Obsolete] Arrogant
Examples:
Surely you see that this is true! Surely you jest! Slowly but surely the battleship overhauled the merchant freighter. If there is no will, then surely the house goes automatically to you. He would surely die if he did not heed the warning. You’ll wait for me? Surely.	He’s a surly cuss! He left with a surly expression. It was a surly brunet who gave the game away. There were enough times when he got so surly and snarky that I knew enough to be wary. The factory owner was a surly brute of whom his employees kept their eyes downcast.
Derivatives:
Adjective: sure	Adjective: surlier, surliest, unsurly Adverb: surlily, unsurlily Noun: surliness, unsurliness
History of the Word:
1300-50; Middle English surliche.	Mid-16th century in the sense of lordly, haughty, or arrogant. It is an alteration of the obsolete sirly.

Return to top

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top