Betrayed by Geoffrey Nunberg?

In a May 30 piece on NPR's Fresh Air defending the AP stylebook's decision to begin permitting use of the adverb "hopefully," Geoffrey Nunberg gloriously demonstrated why he is my favorite linguist (don't you all have one?). Consider this wonderful bit of prose:

...the historian T. Harry Williams went so far as to pronounce it "the most horrible usage of our times" — a singular distinction in the age that gave us expressions like "final solution" and "ethnic cleansing," not to mention "I'm Ken and I'll be your waitperson for tonight."

At the same time, he clearly showed there's a world of difference between the linguist-as-antropologist and the style fetishist such as myself. He's right: there's no grammatical, or even stylistic, rule which could legitimately prohibit sticking "hopefully" at the front of a sentence; and for the record, I've never had a problem with that particular verbal tic, in and of itself.

What gives me the fantods is the phrase "I am/one is hopeful that...." Whenever someone utters that abomination instead of the simpler, clearer, and infinitely more vivid "I hope...," poor George Orwell, who told us good writing (not to mention good speaking) requires "using the fewest and shortest words that will cover one's meaning," rolls over in his grave. This is why "hopefully" should be avoided: it's like letting your 5-year-old pick up a cooked carrot from his dinner plate instead of using his fork. It's just one vegetable, but let it go and pretty soon he'll be pawing up mashed potatoes and shepherd's pie.

For too many, "hopefully" is the gateway drug to "I am hopeful that." AP stylebook or not, just say no.