What / How do you mean?

[Alexander]

Nikita

In your opinion, as an IH pro, what's more common:

1. What do you mean?
2. How do you mean?

PLS don't use the Net to find the number of occurrences. That's not the
case.


Sincerely,
Alexander

[nikita]

Hello,

I do believe that the only proper version is "what do you mean?".

In classic English you must say "What do you call ...?", but still quite a lot of people say "How do you call...?". Actually, in standart English "How do you call ...?" should be answered as, for example, "quickly, loudly, friendly" etc.

That's how I see it. All comments are looked forward and much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Nikita Kovalyov
http://www.eclecticenglish.com/

...

[Alexander]

Well, in OED, "what do you mean" is given, but, I came across 'How do you mean', with this very verb, much more often. In American movies, yes. Though the Internet contains more refs to "What". ..

Sincerely,
Alexander

[nikita]

In American movies, yes.

Yes, certainly. But this is colloquial (informal, spoken) English, isn't it? Surely, it's absolutely fine to use it. It's just nice to feel the difference in style (register). So, it's generally up to you which form to choose.

Nikita Kovalyov
www.eclecticenglish.com