Judith Hehir Jan 31, 2010:

These discussions are both fascinating and humorous. My English must sound bad to you UKers!! But...you must realize that when in discussions such as these, I sometimes make things up on the spot—like UKers, for instance. British and American English are amazingly different all the same. Check out, for instance, the relatively frequent google occurrences of "relatively frequently" in medical contexts, for instance—despite the way it sounds to your British ear, David. Pretty funny!! Definitely fascinating for linguists, I agree.

David Knowles Jan 30, 2010:

Then I see Jack's comment! But he's not a musician...

David Knowles Jan 30, 2010:

I thought of "quite" as well! In English, "quite good" usually means "fairly good" (acceptable, but not outstanding), but in American I think it means "very good". "Rather often" is not an English collocation and just sounds American (as does "somewhat often"). However, "that chocolate is rather good" means "that chocolate is very tasty", but has a slightly 1930s feel about it.

I don't think of "often" as informal, and "relatively frequently" is too much of a mouthful (4+3 syllables)! On the other hand "relatively often" has a pleasant falling cadance with its 4+2 syllables (if you ask me).

These are all stylistic nuances, and will probably pass most people by, but they amuse linguists!

Judith Hehir Jan 30, 2010:

relatively often (for David) is more accurate here (if you ask me, that is). BUT, both "rather often" and "relatively often" sound stylistically inconsistent (the 1st adverb being more formal, the second ("often") more casual)

We Americans would say "quite often/rather frequently/relatively frequently," depending on audience.

quite would be MORE frequent than relatively
Words. Interesting things.

David Knowles Jan 30, 2010:

rather often I don't know what this means, but it feels US! Mind you, I'm not sure what "relatively often" means either, but it sounds more comfortable to my UK ear. It's presumably somewhere between "rarely" and "frequently".