I know that 'back in the day' can be used as a four-word temporal modifier: Back in the day, we all used to meet down at the gym. Whereas 'back in the days' is not used on its own and always has a qualifier (e.g. "when ...", "before ..."): Back in the days when a loaf of bread was only a nickel / two shillings, you could.... But I do hear some people say 'back in the days' without a qualifier. Does this really matter in casual spoken English?

Back in the days vs back in the day

English Language & Usage Asked on January 20, 2021

I know that ‘back in the day’ can be used as a four-word temporal modifier:

Whereas ‘back in the days’ is not used on its own and always has a qualifier (e.g. "when …", "before …"):

Back in the days when a loaf of bread was only a nickel / two shillings, you could….

But I do hear some people say ‘back in the days’ without a qualifier. Does this really matter in casual spoken English?

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