Phraseology and Culture in English

11.
Reasonably well and Anglo cultural scripts 
We can now return to the questions we started with. Thus, the question of 
why one can say reasonably well but not reasonably badly can be answered 
with reference to the key Anglo value of ‘moderation’, of ‘not wanting too 
much’. One wants things to go well, not badly – and it is “reasonable” to 
say (and think) that they went “well” even if one can’t say that they went 
“very well”. ‘Moderation’ does not mean here ‘avoiding extreme judgments’ 

---

Reasonably well
71
(in which case the collocation reasonably badly could be useful), but rather 
avoiding the attitude of ‘I want more’ and being satisfied with a little less 
than one might regard as desirable. 
It is interesting to note in this connection that among the ad-adjectival 
collocations of the adverb reasonably, perhaps the most frequent ones are 
those which refer to judgments: reasonably confident, reasonably certain, 
reasonably sure (see the examples in Section 1), and that the second most 
salient group is that which involves self-limitation in the area of ‘wanting’: 
reasonably happy, reasonably satisfied, reasonably content, and so on (see 
again the examples in Section 1). 
As Locke and others argued, certainty is a good thing, but it is “reason-
able” to be satisfied with less than complete certainty. Getting exactly what 
one wants is also a good thing, but it is “reasonable” to be satisfied with a 
little less. It is also good if things are “very good”, but it is “reasonable” to 
accept that they are “good” even if they are not “very good”. It is “reason-
able” to think that things are going well (“reasonably well”) even when one 
can’t say that they are going “very well”. 
This pragmatic attitude of being satisfied with what one can get and 
achieve is linked historically, I have suggested, with the post-Enlighten-
ment value of ‘moderation’ in thought and in speech. As Locke argued, our 
knowledge is necessarily limited, but this is no reason to despair. We should 
be moderate in our assertions and tolerant of other people’s views because 
we do not have access to absolute truth and full knowledge. At the same 
time, it is “reasonable” to have a certain degree of confidence in our judg-
ment, limited as our claim on knowledge must be. 
The question of why one cannot say the equivalent of reasonably well in 
other languages (for example, why one does not say raisonnablement bien
in French) can be answered with reference to the Anglo-specific character 
of the ideal of ‘moderation’. This in turn can be linked with some specific 
features of the British Enlightenment, and in particular with the Lockean 
emphasis on ‘moderation’ as a requirement of reason – first of all, ‘modera-
tion’ in judgments and assertions, but also in expectations and evaluation. 
The question of how the different meanings of reasonably are related to 
one another is answered by means of explications which rely on elementary 
concepts like THINK, GOOD, MORE, NOT, and SOMEONE, and on their 
configurations such as, for example, I DON’T WANT TO SAY: I WANT 
MORE.
We can also return now to the question of how phrases like reasonably
broad shoulders are related to the collocations reasonably well and rea-

---

72
Anna Wierzbicka 
sonably good. As we have noted, the adjective reasonable can mean in 
modern English ‘reasonably good’ (for example, I had a reasonable day can 
mean ‘I had a reasonably good day’). The adverb reasonably, too, can some-
times be used in the sense of ‘reasonably well’, as in the following example 
(from COBUILD): 
And you personally - did you think that was reasonably explained in the 
package …? Yeah. 
Judging by the data in COBUILD
,
however
,
such examples are very rare. 
On the other hand, reasonably is very frequently used in collocations with 
adjectives which imply a positive evaluation, such as the following ones: 
reasonably easy, reasonably clear, reasonably intelligent, reasonably stable, 
reasonably elegant, reasonably friendly, reasonably reliable, reasonably 
clean, reasonably complete [data], reasonably safe, reasonably handy, rea-
sonably bright [children], reasonably well-off, reasonably cheap, reasona-
bly happy, reasonably content, reasonably accurate, etc. If the adjective 
does not imply a positive evaluation by itself, it usually implies it in con-
text, as in the following example: “I wanted my electric bills to stay rea-
sonably low.” 
The phrase reasonably broad shoulders implies that while the shoulders 
in question cannot be described as “very broad” they can be described as 
broad, and that in the speaker’s view this is good (good enough), and that it 
should also be seen as good enough by other “reasonable” people (i.e. peo-
ple who think well and who do not want too much). 
The collocation reasonably well embodies the same assumptions and in 
fact it makes them particularly obvious. For example, when one says that 
something “went reasonably well” one sends the following message: ‘I can’t 
say “it went very well”’; I don’t want to say because of this that ‘it didn’t 
go well’. One is determined to be ‘positive’ if one can: ‘if I can, I want to 
say that it went well’. These considerations can be summarized by positing 
the following cultural script (which can be called, for convenience, a script 
of “realistically positive evaluation”): 
[people think:] 
it is not good to think like this: 
when I can’t say about something “it is very good” 
I can’t say “it is good” 
it is good to think like this: 
when I can say about something “it is good” it is good to say it 

---

Reasonably well
73
This is perhaps the most salient script associated with the collocation 
reasonably well (and reasonably good), but it is not the only one. Another 
script can be called an “anti-exaggeration script”. 
The use of the collocation reasonably well suggests that one is careful- 
ly choosing one’s words, and also that one is carefully considering the 
situation. This consideration reflected in the careful choice of words is 
linked with an effort to “think well” as well as “speak well”. Hence the link 
to “reason” and “reasons”. A “thoughtless, impulsive, emotional” person 
might say “it went badly”. A “reasonable” person, on the other hand, may 
consider the matter “in accordance with reason”, choose their words care-
fully, “psyche” themselves into appreciating the positives (such as they 
are), and accept the limitations that they cannot do anything about. Thus, 
the use of the collocation reasonably well can be seen to reflect scripts for 
careful speaking, as well as scripts for good thinking and for sensible want-
ing.
[people think:] 
sometimes when people think like this about something: “it is good”
they want to say more 
because of this they say something like this: “it is very good”
it is not good to say things in this way 
when I think like this about something: “it is good”
it will not be good to say more 
because of this when I want to say words like “very good” 
it will be good if I think about it before I say it 
The use of reasonably as “anti-exaggeration device” may seem remote 
from the use of reasonable in political and legal discourse, as in the follow-
ing passage from a newspaper referring to a case of a mother hitting her 
three-year old child in a supermarket: 
Civil libertarians say that the law is sensible, allowing parents to hit their 
kids in a reasonable fashion but not to beat them up. 
“I do not accept that the force [she] used was reasonable”, was the finding 
of the magistrate in the current case. 
Yet while the collocations a reasonable fashion and reasonable force imply 
a concern with, roughly speaking, “not doing too much”, and reasonably
well a concern with “not saying too much”, the common thread is none the 
less evident. “It is good not to do more [than necessary]” and “it is good not 

---

74
Anna Wierzbicka 
to say more [than justified]”. In both cases one needs discernment, good 
thinking: it is good to think like this: “I don’t want to do / say more”.