any old how
any old how (adverbial phrase)
/ˌɛni oʊld ˈhaʊ/
Meaning
- In a careless, messy, or untidy way.
- Without much thought, care, or attention to how something is done.
- In any way or manner, without being particular about the method used.
Synonyms: carelessly, haphazardly, untidily, messily, casually, randomly, anyhow, in a careless way, in a messy way, any old way.
Example Sentences
- She tossed her clothes into the suitcase any old how and dashed out the door to catch her flight.
- Don’t just leave your books any old how—put them back on the shelf when you’re done.
- He slapped the report together any old how, without checking a single fact or bothering to organize anything properly.
- The kids had flung their toys any old how all over the bedroom floor.
- I couldn’t care less how the boxes looked, so I just stacked them any old how in the corner.
Etymology and Origin
A Casual Way of Speaking
People use “any old how” when they want to say something got done without much care or order. It describes a messy, offhand way of handling things rather than a careful plan. Sometimes it just means “anyway,” as if the speaker is brushing past the details and moving on.
Roots in American Everyday Talk
The phrase grew out of ordinary American speech near the end of the 1800s. It takes the older word “anyhow” and slips “old” into the middle for a more relaxed, casual feel. The same pattern shows up in other everyday expressions like “any old thing” or “any old way.” Adding that little word “old” softens the whole idea and makes it sound like a friendly shrug.
First Recorded Use
The earliest known example in print turns up in 1900 in a novel called The Mills of the Gods by Louise Snow Dorr, published in New York. One character says:
“I’d like to know what he was after. If it was to find out how many Dacres there be, he didn’t get full measure, pressed down, running over, any old how.”
Here it works more like “in any case.” A few years later, in 1904, a writer used it to describe a teacher hastily copying math problems onto the board “any old how,” which captures the careless sense more clearly.
How the Phrase Settled In
Once it appeared in books, the expression spread easily through American conversation and writing. It carried two close meanings that stayed linked: doing something without any real method, and simply accepting a situation without arguing further. Both kept that easy, unpolished tone. British speakers picked it up later, though it never quite lost the informal American flavor it started with. No big arguments or competing stories grew up around it. Its history stays simple and tied to the way ordinary people talked.
A Quiet Observation
What keeps the phrase useful is how flexible it stays. It can gently criticize a sloppy job or just help a conversation skip over something awkward. That double life has carried it for more than a hundred years without needing fancy explanations. It remains one of those small, practical pieces of language that still sound exactly like the people who first said them.
Variants
- any old way
- any (old) how
- anyhow – a related form that can also mean “in a careless or untidy way.”
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