After having heard this from a certain former Alaska governor, I looked it up and did find the adverb telephonically in the dictionary.
I asked myself why in the world someone would use the ridiculous “word” telephonically when she could have easily said “was scheduled to participate in a meeting via telephone” or “was scheduled to participate in a telephone meeting” or….. The answer was obvious: The governor has fallen prey to the same disease to which so many of us have fallen prey: The desperate need to make ourselves and what we’re doing sound more important than we are or it is. It’s called being pretentious.
Nothing is functional any longer; it has functionality. No one is tall any longer; her or she has immense verticality. No one plays physical football any longer; he plays with great physicality. Storms are impactful, senses of humor are non-existent——–and now, we no longer make telephone calls; we communicate telephonically.
Sherry
I certainly would not want to adopt the word “telephonically” no matter how much functionality it has.
Reply from Sherry: That’s a commonality that we share, Laura.