I’ve always thought of “forthcoming” and “forthright” as two commonly mistaken words with two very different meanings: “Forthcoming” meaning “on the way” or “about to happen” and “forthright” meaning “frank” or “candid.” With these definitions in mind, imagine my surprise when, on a recent episode of “Mad Men,” Betty Draper tells her secret-keeping, evasive daughter, Sally, that she isn’t being very “forthcoming” about why she wants to move away to boarding school.
Along with the many other questions I had at the end of the episode, I wondered why Betty used “forthcoming” instead of “forthright.” Was it a grammatical mistake? Was the difference in definitions I assumed to be correct a product of recent decades and Betty’s vocabulary a result of painstaking research done by the writers of “Mad Men”? Were my definitions wrong?
My definitions were wrong (mostly). Upon further research, I have learned that the definition of “forthcoming” is not limited to just impending events. “Forthcoming” can also mean “responsive” or “outgoing” (according to Merriam-Webster, which even cites “forthright” as a synonym). However, where “forthcoming” can mean both “impending” and “frank,” “forthright” can only be properly used to describe the latter. A tiny distinction — but, like most grammatical rules, it’s one that can make a huge difference.