I've just found this excellent blog post, eleven years after it was written ! Hopefully it's not too late to comment. I'm not sure if I was conscious of the widespread use of "likely" as an adverb in British English in 2012, but it's certainly a trend which has become noticeable in the UK media in those intervening years, to the point at which it is now a cliché in my opinion, so much do that it is difficult to read many articles without encountering it. And that's the nub of the annoyance for me - in the UK, it is an affectation, and largely a media affectation at that. By media, one must include social media these days, of course. No surprises thee when it comes to affectation and sheeple following trends. As such, it often comes across as artificial and forced when used by a British writer. And it is indeed a largely written phenomenon in the UK. One hears it spoken in ordinary British conversation much less frequently, compounding the jarring impression it conveys in writing. I stress that all of the above relates only to its contemporary British usage. For Americans the adverbial use of likely is natural and normal and in no way an affectation. Good for them. As in most cases of the spread of American English, it is not Americans using it which is annoying, but a certain sort of British person desperately wanting to be modish.
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I've just found this excellent blog post, eleven years after it was written !
Hopefully it's not too late to comment.
I'm not sure if I was conscious of the widespread use of "likely" as an adverb in British English in 2012, but it's certainly a trend which has become noticeable in the UK media in those intervening years, to the point at which it is now a cliché in my opinion, so much do that it is difficult to read many articles without encountering it.
And that's the nub of the annoyance for me - in the UK, it is an affectation, and largely a media affectation at that. By media, one must include social media these days, of course. No surprises thee when it comes to affectation and sheeple following trends.
As such, it often comes across as artificial and forced when used by a British writer. And it is indeed a largely written phenomenon in the UK. One hears it spoken in ordinary British conversation much less frequently, compounding the jarring impression it conveys in writing.
I stress that all of the above relates only to its contemporary British usage. For Americans the adverbial use of likely is natural and normal and in no way an affectation. Good for them. As in most cases of the spread of American English, it is not Americans using it which is annoying, but a certain sort of British person desperately wanting to be modish.