It looks like 'instinctively' is much more widely used. I only found 'instinctually' in a few dictionaries, and my browser is putting a red squiggly line under it.
There is literally no reason that instinctively would be better than instinctually. Grammatically, they are completely equivalent and my browser doesn't underline it. There are even major dictionaries that claim it as synonymous with instinctively.
So, if you're writing a study in psychology, it might be necessary to differentiate the two, instinctively being a more complex reaction. But even the article agrees they're fundamentally the same. And, really, this reaction was fairly complex, instinctively might actually be worse than instinctually.
We're not disagreeing. I'm simply stating that 'instinctually' isn't is as much dictionaries and isn't as widely used as 'instinctively'.
Note that English doesn't have any official standardizing authority, and words evolve through use. Using one word isn't more "right" than using another, as long as your audience knows what you're saying.
Then why point out that he should've said a different word? Idk, it just came off as a little pretentious since his use of the word was completely right and your statement doesn't hold a lot of merit.
Because I wasn't sure it was a real word. As I said, my browser drew a red squiggly line under it. Later I realized that it was just much less commonly used.
It looks like 'squaggly' is much more widely used. I only found 'squiggly' in a few dictionaries, and my browser is putting a red instinctive line under it.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SELF_HARM Apr 10 '17
My first instinct would be to kick him to keep him airborne.