> > What about the OED? For my money, if it aint in the OED, it aint English.

I didn't bother reporting on the OED, since it doesn't give much in the way of usage notes, but of course it gives both meanings, as you'd expect.


> What does "presently" mean? It means whatever the majority of English speakers believe it means. Right now it's a word in transition. Some people use it to mean "now", others use it to mean "soon." Dictionaries can't keep up with the rate of language change, and they're only a guide to current usage. If half the world suddenly decided tomorrow that "presently" means "light orange in colour", and started using it as such, that's what it would mean, no matter what the OED says.
> The meaning of each word in the English (or any other) language was not set in stone for all time on the day of creation. There isn't any "correct" meaning, there's only the accepted current meaning - which can vary between places or cultures.

The only thing I'd disagree with here is the statement that "presently" is a word in transition, since both meanings are attested for over 400 years now.

> Of course, knowing this to be true does not mean that I have any less desire to strangle people who use "presently" to mean THE WRONG THING.

Oh, pish tosh.


By the way, a bit more from the Merriam-Webster usage book, for those who still care:

"Numerous usage commentators have come forward to condemn the use, generally on the ground that it can be ambiguous. This observation is buttressed with a context-free example made up for the purpose. In actual use, the word is almost never ambiguous. When 'presently' means 'at present', it is used in modern contexts with the present tense of a verb. When it is used to mean 'before long', it most often goes with a verb in the past or the future. When the 'before long' sense is used with a present-tense verb, the context usually suffices to make the meaning clear. Genuinely ambiguous uses are very hard to find."


-- Trip