Last week, a friend of mine posted on Facebook using the following phrase: “without further adieu”. It’s a phrase I’ve seen from time to time, and I wanted to highlight here why it’s wrong:
Without further adieu
Adieu is a French synonym for “goodbye” or “farewell” and usually is used to wish someone well on their journey, particularly a long one. It literally means “to God” and is derived from the Old French phrase “à Dieu vous comant” (to God I commend you).
So “without further adieu” means “without further goodbye”. The phrase could actually work in some situations (but only if you used the plural “adieus”): if we have been delaying the start of our journey, for example (sort of like what Sam does with Frodo at the end of The Return of the King).
Without further ado
“Ado” means fuss, delay, or bothering with triviality. “Without further ado” would mean “without further fuss”, which is why we often hear the phrase used when introducing someone at an event and had just finished sharing their bio.
In most cases, you’ll probably want to use “without further ado”.
There you have it: the difference between “adieu” and “ado”. Do you get the two mixed up? Let me know in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to tell me about other commonly confused words, and I’ll write about them in the future.
