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Ya’ll can breathe easy. This is my own curiosity, *laughing*. It’s that concept of the everyman that fascinates me, for its origin as a blank slate representing the common man, as in the fifteenth century play. Just goes to show that creating characters when writing plays or stories has been a creative art for centuries.
Curious About Other Everys?
If you’re curious about other every closed compound words, you may want to check out “Every Body versus Everybody“, “Every Day versus Everyday“, “Every One versus Everyone“, “Every Place versus Everyplace“, “Every Thing versus Everything“, and “Every Way versus Everyway“, and “Every Where versus Everywhere“.
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 “Every Man versus Everyman” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Every Man | Everyman |
|---|---|
 — |
 |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adverbial Phrase consisting of a Determiner + Noun | Closed Compound Word
Noun Plural: everyman |
| Each individual of a group, without exception | Noun: [Use italics] A 15th-century English morality play in which the central figure represents mankind, whose earthly destiny is dramatized from the Christian viewpoint [Usually lowercase] An ordinary person
|
| Examples: | |
| It’s every man for himself!
Yeah, well, every man has his price, and you just met mine. They’re spies, every man jack of them. |
It is everyman’s dream car.
“You have to be an Everyman and chameleon, so that every bit of you is involved in the end” (Fried). The Somonyng of Everyman, usually referred to as Everyman, was first performed in 1510 and is a translation of a Dutch play, Elckerlijc. As a trope, the everyman character is usually a blank slate with whom the reader is intended to empathize. |
| History of the Word: | |
| Early 20th century: the name of the principal character in a 15th-century morality play. | |
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.
Resources for Every Man versus Everyman
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: everyman
Fried, Ronald K. “Martin Amis Talks About Nazis, Novels, and Cute Babies.” The Daily Beast. 8 Oct 2014 Web. n.d. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/martin-amis-talks-about-nazis-novels-and-cute-babies>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Segurança RS – chamem o Batman by ABC Television, Christopher T. Howlett – editor Eugenio Hansen, OFS, is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Revised as of 11 Apr 2024
By: Kathy Davie