SubscribeHealthy vs. Healthful
Our language changes constantly. Over time, the difference between similar words becomes blurred and finally they come to mean the same thing. The 
distinction is gone and the language suffers another loss. Such is the case with “healthy” and “healthful”. In popular usage, the two have become interchangeable.
My understanding has always been that “healthful” means contributing to the state of good health and “healthy” means enjoying the state of good health. Eating healthful food can make you healthy. My Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition backs me up: healthful – “favorable to the health of mind or body; healthy – “enjoying or indicative of good health”.
“Healthy” has been a trendy word for a long time. Over the years it has gained strength and all but pushed “healthful” aside. Holdouts like me are accused of being pretentious when we talk about a “healthful diet”. I don’t mind. Sometimes you have to take a stand.
What does this have to do with writing in the business world? All “healthy” all the time is lazy writing. We should keep the difference between “healthful” and “healthy” in mind whenever we come up against health-related copy. Skilled copy-writers should be able to retain the punch of the word “healthy” and still give “healthful” its due.
Comments?
Hooray for you.
This is a terribly irritating example of bad grammar. Food cannot do chin ups,or run four minute miles so it cannot be healthy..unless you are considering the consumption of live human beings …or live cows, etc.
Thank you for defending the language.
Tom Loughlin Jr, Utica NY
DITTO from me….it is really disturbing that poor usage and lazy grammar can force a language to change….one can help maintain a ‘healthy’ body by eating ‘healthy’ vegetables…..in todays world, not many people could explain what I am saying….a body that is in good physical health is maintained partially by eating ‘healthy’ vegetables (vegetables that are in a prime growing condition – here ‘healthy’ is used as an adjective describing the physical condition of the plant). In common usage as seen on TV every day, we hear healthy used incorrectly; the proper use of the word is ‘ to maintain a healthy body, we need to eat ‘healthful’ vegetables, etc. In this case, HEALTHFUL is used to describe foods that aid in maintaining a body that is in a prime condition.
One couldn’t agree more with you in the situation where writers and authors, etc. as well as news personel, televison personel and all public relations people could help keep our English language alive and well if they knew how to speak proper English and used it correctly.
Keep up the well work; your knot a loan in your kwest. ( In case you’re wondering, this WAS typed intentionally like that)
Richard in Penticton
Want to add a comment to my comment – line 5, after ‘healthy’ vegetables, would like to add (vegetables that aren’t rotten; rather, they are …
Kudos. If I had a dollar for every time I see or hear sloppy English grammar, I’d be a millionaire. What a shame that we don’t value our language and, in too many cases, accept incorrect usage. This comment comes from a university prof, and the students are not the only culprits.
Actually, the article and every comment so far is WRONG! The article implies, completely incorrectly, that healthy and healthful used to have distinct usages but have become interchangeable due to misuse. The truth is the exact opposite. The two words were interchangeable for centuries. Only recently have they assumed different usage patterns, and only because someone decided to deliberately change the language. Someone thought it was important to have different words to mean “possessing good health” and “promoting good health.” Which word got which meaning was ARBITRARY! Insisting on “proper” use of each is not only pretentious, it is technically incorrect. See http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/healthy-vs-healthful.html and http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/healthy-debate/.