You know what’s a lost art? Starting a sentence with “Why.” It’s so antique, in fact, that I can’t articulate when you’re allowed to do it.
I understand that the initial “Why” can denote mild surprise:
Why, I had no idea you were from Boonestown!
or some kind of vague intensification:
Why, you dirty rat
or can function something like intial “Well”:
Why, it’s quite simple, Maxine….
or can even serve as a phonetic wind-up:
Why, I oughtta…
But you clearly can’t put “Why” before any old declarative sentence: my idiolect rejects “Why, I’ll have the eggs benedict and a coffee.”
Can anyone put their finger on the underlying rule here?
It’s kind of a funny usage. It’s a little like the word “well” in sentences like “Well, it’s like I was saying…” It’s not entirely clear what the “well” is doing there. (And that one, strangely enough, translates almost literally into French: “Eh bien, c’est comme je disais…”)
Why not?
I agree that the sentence you wrote sounds odd. But if you write out the contraction “I will”, then it sounds fine to my ear: “Why, I will have the eggs Benedict and a coffee.”
To one’s self: “What should I have for breakfast today? Is there anything that would really get this day off on the right foot, rev my engines, put a spring in my step? Why, I’ll have the eggs benedict and a coffee!”
Why, you’re absolutely right! (First usage above.) So why is Graham’s sentence OK and mine is not? Note also that Graham’s sentence wouldn’t work with “Well.”
I think here it’s akin to the first usage, indicating mild surprise/discovery/realization.
Why you little!…… aaaaaackkkkhh
My own idiolect doesn’t reject “Why, I’ll have the eggs benedict and a coffee.” I suppose context has a lot to do with it. It does seem a little strange, and your partners at the table would raise an eyebrow: it’s like you’re indicating some power or profundity in “I’ll have the eggs benedict and a coffee” which isn’t appropriate. Graham nicely illustrates a context where it’s not just technically grammatically correct, but also appropriate.
[…] correct way of starting a sentence with why instead, like Jordan S. Ellenberg writes about here: I understand that the initial “Why” can denote mild […]