“I feel bad about that” should be, “I feel badly about that.”
Wrong. And that’s one of my pet peeves. People saying “I feel badly.”
If you feel badly, that means you aren’t very good at feeling. If you feel bad, that means that the feelings that you have are bad feelings. Not badly feelings.
You wouldn’t say, “I feel downtroddenly,” or “I feel exhilaratedly.” And you certainly wouldn’t say, “this sandpaper feels roughly.”
You can say, “I feel well,” but you’re using well the adjective (meaning “in good health”) not well the adverb (meaning commendably). You could say “I feel well,” using well the adverb, but then you’d mean “I am good at feeling.”
Anyway, as I was unable to explain it further than that (and was a bit curious as to how to explain it exactly), I gooled the phrase “I feel badly,” and came up with this link which will explain it further (on the off chance that anyone actually gives a damn).
But, hey, don’t feel bad, lots of people get that wrong. And don’t feel badly, either, because then you’ll miss out on life’s great ups and downs. (Or you won’t be able to tell sandpaper from a rose petal.)
But if you really did vote for Bush, you should feel very bad about that. If you did vote for him, and you don’t feel bad, then you probably do feel (and think) badly.
