BLOOMINGTON – It was revealed Monday by linguistic professors at Indiana University that the word “belated” – an adjective whose origins can been traced back to the year 1610 – is now only used in birthday messages.
The word, which is typically applied in phrases such as “happy belated birthday”, is estimated to be in much wider usage since the advent of the internet, specifically following the launch of social media sites such as Facebook.
“Honestly, what other usage is there for the word “belated”?,” asked languages professor Rebecca Mullgrove. “You never hear people say I had a “belated lunch” anymore, or that the nightly news is “set to have a belated start time.”
The study, which looked at common online instances of the word between January and November of this year, found that almost half of all birthday wishes included some reference to the words “belated” or “belatedly”, and that not one person in the entire world uttered it in any other context.
“It’s sort of like the word “prerogative”,” continued Mullgrove. “When do you hear anyone actually ever use that word except in movies?”
In the last ten years, I've only used the word 'belated' once. It was in an early belated birthday card. I probably sent it a week before his birthday but I didn't want him to think I was too into him, so I sent a Happy Early Belated Birthday card… I don't think he appreciated the joke nor the effort.