Thursday, March 20, 2014

It’s more than over

If language is misued long enough, the "wrong" word becomes acceptable.

The latest: AP Stylebook editors decided that "over" can become interchangeable with "more than."

Merriam-Webster dictionary doesn't give that description of "over" yet. Give M-W time. 

"Further" was misused so much to describe distance, rather than "farther," that they today are used interchangeably. Bob Dyer did a recent BJ column on misuse becoming so consistent that it becomes acceptable.

Ford Motor, for example, has its latest commercials talk about "Go Further." 

Former BJ language purists Hal Fry and Art Cullison probably are spinning in their graves.

Language is not set in concrete. In dictionaries, maybe. But even the dictionaries change what is acceptable.

Long ago, gay meant a joyous, happy person, as in the Gay 90's. Today it also refers to homosexuals. 

Those who use the Bible to prove their points often overlook that the original meaning of the Jewish words have changed over the centuries and don't mean what they did when they were written. That sometimes means that today's interpretation of the Jewish word doesn't match what it meant the day it was written.

I guess the sports betting term over/under can be changed to more than/less than, huh? 

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