I've noticed that in the US nowadays people often use "momentarily" to
mean "soon", or "shortly", whereas in most other English-speaking
countries "momentarily" is used almost exclusively to mean "of short
duration", or "for a short time", and become rathert nervous, as
aircraft passengers, with announcements like "We will be taking off
momentarily", which implies that the aircraft is expected to crash
shortly after take-off.

But here is an exceperpt from a UK newpaper of about 200 years ago
that shows that the usage that now seems confined to the US was once
current in the UK at least.

"Although Wednesday's mail, momentarily expected when our last number
went to press, as we then stated, brought very important intelligence,
we had no opportunity of announcing its substance in a second edition,
as it did not reach Carlisle till five o'clock in the afternoon. The
snow was of immense thickness in many places, and the coaches were
stopped on all the roads. On Sunday morning, the thaw commenced; on
Tuesday it rained; Wednesday and Thursday were very fine clear days;
and at this time (Friday night), the snow has almost every where
disappeared, we enjoy the mildness of spring, and the communication is
restored in all directions. The London mail coach came over Stainmoor,
for the first time for several days, on Tuesday" (Carlisle Patriot, 15
Feb 1823).

"
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 10/06/2023 3:14 p.m., Steve Hayes wrote:
> I've noticed that in the US nowadays people often use "momentarily" to
> mean "soon", or "shortly", whereas in most other English-speaking
> countries "momentarily" is used almost exclusively to mean "of short
> duration", or "for a short time", and become rathert nervous, as
> aircraft passengers, with announcements like "We will be taking off
> momentarily", which implies that the aircraft is expected to crash
> shortly after take-off.
>
> But here is an exceperpt from a UK newpaper of about 200 years ago
> that shows that the usage that now seems confined to the US was once
> current in the UK at least.
>
> "Although Wednesday's mail, momentarily expected when our last number
> went to press, as we then stated, brought very important intelligence,
> we had no opportunity of announcing its substance in a second edition,
> as it did not reach Carlisle till five o'clock in the afternoon. The
> snow was of immense thickness in many places, and the coaches were
> stopped on all the roads. On Sunday morning, the thaw commenced; on
> Tuesday it rained; Wednesday and Thursday were very fine clear days;
> and at this time (Friday night), the snow has almost every where
> disappeared, we enjoy the mildness of spring, and the communication is
> restored in all directions. The London mail coach came over Stainmoor,
> for the first time for several days, on Tuesday" (Carlisle Patriot, 15
> Feb 1823).
>
>

That is interesting. I had not been conscious of a pondian difference.
OED's account has the following:

1. For a moment; for a very short time, fleetingly. (from 1655)
....
4. 4. Chiefly North American. At any moment; in a moment, soon. (from
1869).

The clue may be in the intermediate senses:

2. At the moment; instantly. Now rare. (from 1739)
3. At every moment; moment by moment. Now rare. (from 1763)

Perhaps the coach in your example was expected, not "in a moment, soon",
but rather "at every moment". Here's another case of "momentarily
expecting":

1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 1 During the early part of the
morning, I momentarily expected his coming.

On 2023-06-10 04:13, Ross Clark wrote:
> On 10/06/2023 3:14 p.m., Steve Hayes wrote:
>> I've noticed that in the US nowadays people often use "momentarily" to
>> mean "soon", or "shortly", whereas in most other English-speaking
>> countries "momentarily" is used almost exclusively to mean "of short
>> duration", or "for a short time", and become rathert nervous, as
>> aircraft passengers, with announcements like "We will be taking off
>> momentarily", which implies that the aircraft is expected to crash
>> shortly after take-off.
>>
>> But here is an exceperpt from a UK newpaper of about 200 years ago
>> that shows that the usage that now seems confined to the US was once
>> current in the UK at least.
>>
>> "Although Wednesday's mail, momentarily expected when our last number
>> went to press, as we then stated, brought very important intelligence,
>> we had no opportunity of announcing its substance in a second edition,
>> as it did not reach Carlisle till five o'clock in the afternoon. The
>> snow was of immense thickness in many places, and the coaches were
>> stopped on all the roads. On Sunday morning, the thaw commenced; on
>> Tuesday it rained; Wednesday and Thursday were very fine clear days;
>> and at this time (Friday night), the snow has almost every where
>> disappeared, we enjoy the mildness of spring, and the communication is
>> restored in all directions. The London mail coach came over Stainmoor,
>> for the first time for several days, on Tuesday" (Carlisle Patriot, 15
>> Feb 1823).
>
> That is interesting. I had not been conscious of a pondian difference.
> OED's account has the following:
>
> 1. For a moment; for a very short time, fleetingly. (from 1655)
> ...
> 4. 4. Chiefly North American. At any moment; in a moment, soon. (from
> 1869).

I would almost narrow that down to 'Chiefly US.", as I have only noticed
that usage in the past 10 years or so. It still bugs me.

> The clue may be in the intermediate senses:
>
> 2. At the moment; instantly. Now rare. (from 1739)
> 3. At every moment; moment by moment. Now rare. (from 1763)
>
> Perhaps the coach in your example was expected, not "in a moment, soon",
> but rather "at every moment". Here's another case of "momentarily
> expecting":
>
> 1847   C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 1   During the early part of the
> morning, I momentarily expected his coming.
>
>
>

--
'Forty' is the only number that has all its letters in alphabetical order.

Le 10/06/2023 à 16:44, lar3ryca a écrit :
> On 2023-06-10 04:13, Ross Clark wrote:
>>
>> That is interesting. I had not been conscious of a pondian difference.
>> OED's account has the following:
>>
>> 1. For a moment; for a very short time, fleetingly. (from 1655)
>> ...
>> 4. 4. Chiefly North American. At any moment; in a moment, soon. (from
>> 1869).
>
> I would almost narrow that down to 'Chiefly US.", as I have only noticed
> that usage in the past 10 years or so. It still bugs me.

The annoyance may be more than momentary. Such usages leak across the
Ocean (few things are worse than a leaky ocean)...

AmE:
<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=was+momentarily+at+a+loss%2Cwill+be+with+you+momentarily&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-US-2019&smoothing=3>

BrE:
<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=was+momentarily+at+a+loss%2Cwill+be+with+you+momentarily&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-GB-2019&smoothing=3>

On Sat, 10 Jun 2023 22:13:54 +1200, Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
wrote:

>That is interesting. I had not been conscious of a pondian difference.
>OED's account has the following:
>
>1. For a moment; for a very short time, fleetingly. (from 1655)
>...
>4. 4. Chiefly North American. At any moment; in a moment, soon. (from
>1869).
>
>The clue may be in the intermediate senses:
>
>2. At the moment; instantly. Now rare. (from 1739)
>3. At every moment; moment by moment. Now rare. (from 1763)
>
>Perhaps the coach in your example was expected, not "in a moment, soon",
>but rather "at every moment". Here's another case of "momentarily
>expecting":
>
>1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 1 During the early part of the
>morning, I momentarily expected his coming.

The Bronte example is interesting.

I first encountered it meaning something other than "for a moment" on
my first (and only) visit to the USA in 1995, and could imagine
feeling distinctly uneasy if an airline stewardess announced to
passengers "We will be taking off momentarily" -- the TV series "Air
Crash Investigations" has a number of instances of aircraft taking off
momentarily, nearly all of them with unpleasant results.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Steve Hayes:
> I first encountered it meaning something other than "for a moment" on
> my first (and only) visit to the USA in 1995, and could imagine
> feeling distinctly uneasy if an airline stewardess announced to
> passengers "We will be taking off momentarily"

Yes, this reaction is familiar.

> -- the TV series "Air
> Crash Investigations" has a number of instances of aircraft taking off
> momentarily, nearly all of them with unpleasant results.

The actual title of that show is "Mayday", by the way. Apparently it's
been changed quite a bit for viewers in foreign countries.
--
Mark Brader | "No [flying machine] will ever fly from New York to
Toronto | Paris ...[because] no known motor can run at the
msb@vex.net | requisite speed for four days without stopping..."
| -- Orville Wright, March 1909
My text in this article is in the public domain.