When did people start saying "purposely" instead of "purposefully? Genie, the difference to me is that 'purposely' is done 'on purpose' or not by accident, as in saying something like "ain't", for instance. 'Purposefully 'to me means 'with purpose', as in something like "I told him that I had seen his wife with a stranger at the hotel".

I haven't looked it up, so this is just my working grasp of it... I'm curious as to whether others make that distinction.

Ebbie