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Can we say "It works rough" if a demoed piece of software is in active development and may contain bugs thus still not working properly?

I heard something like that from my PM (native English speaker), but not sure if I heard or understood correctly.

Ilya Kushlianski
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    Could you have heard something along the lines of "It's a rough draft" or "It still has rough edges"? – user888379 Sep 18 '22 at 20:38
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    You could say the program runs rough. The car drives rough. He talks rough. But we wouldn't use the flat adverb rough with works. – Tinfoil Hat Sep 18 '22 at 20:51
  • Someone once said a word in a nonstandard fashion. That moment is not a teaching moment as a model of speech. It's not even wrong (yeah, it's an adjective used as an adverb), just some guy talking: yeah. – Yosef Baskin Sep 18 '22 at 21:14
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    We usually say "roughly". US speakers often use an adjective as an adverb. So "it roughly works" is more usual in UK, and that adverb before the verb has a different meaning when placed after the verb. In the first case, it "nearly works", in the second case, "it works badly". – Weather Vane Sep 18 '22 at 21:55
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    @WeatherVane - A US speaker would (almost) never "It works rough". – Hot Licks Sep 18 '22 at 22:21
  • Though it would be hard to say that 'rough' as a flat adverb is unacceptable (getting on for a million hits (raw) on Google for "is running rough", less than 100 for "works rough" -skin -magic persuades me that 'It works rough' is unidiomatic. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 27 '22 at 18:24
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    "Rough" can be used as an adverb but seems commonest in certain contexts - Merriam-Webster mentions the (mostly British) sense in phrases like "to sleep rough". There are some other expressions it is commonly used with, already mentioned, like "to run rough". So "roughly" would be more useful, although in programming contexts you might say "It kind of works", "It's buggy", "it's kludgy", "It's brittle". – Stuart F Oct 27 '22 at 19:22
  • @StuartF Yes. I can't imagine a boxer, returning to his corner after a tough round, saying that his opponent "fights roughly". On the other hand, it's common to say that someone "fights rough". But as you say, the adverb "rough" seems to work best only in certain contexts. – MarcInManhattan Feb 25 '23 at 03:46

4 Answers4

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Better to say, "the demoed software is glitchy".

Glitchy: often experiencing small technical problems or faults

banuyayi
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  • True, banuyayi, but this does not address the actual question directly. And the actual question is worth discussing (Can 'rough' be used as a [flat] adverb? ... With all verbs (such as 'work'?)) – Edwin Ashworth Oct 27 '22 at 18:38
  • I have not heard "rough" used that way with softwares. Though I have heard "The software is not that smooth, still rough around the edges.". "Glitchy" I have heard countless times. – banuyayi Oct 28 '22 at 08:04
  • That sounds relevant. This is one of those questions where supporting references other than anecdotal will probably be difficult to find. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 28 '22 at 14:35
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This sounds like a terrible metaphor. It is adapted from "it runs rough", referring to an automobile engine that needs maintenance and produces excessive vibration when it runs. The expression "rough draft" refers to a piece of wood that has a rough surface and needs to be sanded and polished.

Laurence Yarosh
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    "It runs rough" is ungrammatical because 'rough' is an adjective, not an adverb. We say "It runs roughly" meaning it doesn't run very well. Or we say "It roughly runs" meaning we have almost succeeded. – Weather Vane Sep 18 '22 at 21:59
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    A 'rough draft' is usually a piece of written work in its early stages. – Weather Vane Sep 18 '22 at 22:13
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    @WeatherVane - In the US "It runs rough" might very well be said of an automobile or some such. – Hot Licks Sep 18 '22 at 22:23
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    @WeatherVane — It runs rough is completely idiomatic in American English, and rough is "flat adverb" here — not an adjective. (And neither it works rough nor it works roughly would ever be uttered.) – Tinfoil Hat Sep 19 '22 at 00:48
  • @TinfoilHat we do say 'sleep rough' here, but not usually 'run rough'. – Weather Vane Sep 19 '22 at 00:51
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    @WeatherVane I'm not so sure. "It's running rough" sounds quite normal to me in the context of machinery (including car engines) operating in a non-optimal manner. I probably wouldn't use it in a formal report but I'd use it if I took a car to the garage or wanted a service engineer to look at a washing machine. – BoldBen Sep 19 '22 at 08:09
  • I think this answer is exactly right. Things like *engines, motors,* and *cars* "run rough" (also "lumpy", "unevenly", etc.) - where the subject is supposed to manifest *literal* "smooth motion" (internal movement like a lathe, or external motion like a vehicle). But as @Laurence says, in the context of a figurative reference to poor quality *software*, it's "a terrible metaphor". – FumbleFingers Oct 27 '22 at 16:30
  • @Weather Vane There are enough Google examples of engines, cars etc that 'run rough' to license the use of 'rough' as a flat adverb when modifying run/s/ning. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 27 '22 at 18:36
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That might just possibly work in some colonial forms but surely, not in all… and never in British English.

Whether you might say 'It works rough' cannot have anything to do with demoes or software, development or bugs. Is that much clear?

In British English and the other forms I've heard - American, Australian, Zambian, Zimbabwean the closest you might get would be the specific dialogue:

'Is it working?'

'Uh… roughly.'

That is not at all comparable to the artificial construct:

'How is it working?'

'(Uh…) roughly.'

You might say something like 'It works, roughly' and that is not comparable, because it means 'It does work, but only roughly…'

Quite separately, what's a PM, please?

Robbie Goodwin
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Most people would get what you are trying to say. You could alternatively say the software has bugs, it is defective or is malfunctioning.

Mozibur Ullah
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