At Merriam-Webster we have a proud tradition, over one hundred and sixty years old, of trying to describe the English language the way it is actually used, rather than the way it should be used. . And contrary to what you may have heard, we are not advocating the removal of all rules; we just want to remove the notable ones (yes, you heard right…we said remarkable). Like the one that says the use of via in the first sentence of this paragraph is a false number.
‘Over’ meaning “more than” was used from Old English.
Some people claim that via should not be used in the sense of “more”, as they think that the word is properly applied only to spatial relationships. This quantitative meaning is one of several meanings of the word that at one point were deemed inappropriate. Ambrose Bierce provided several of these in his early 20th century manual, Write correctly:
Via because About, Inor relate to. “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” “He’s happy to be acquitted.”
Via because More. “A sum of more than ten thousand dollars.” “Ten thousand dollars or more” is equally objectionable.
Via because ABOVE. “The police hit him in the head.” If the blow was over the head, it didn’t hit him.— Ambrose Bierce, Write correctly1909
Bierce seems to have based his objection to the “more than” meaning of via in fact it was included in Expurgatorius Index, a list of prohibited words compiled by William Cullen Bryant, editor of the New York Evening Post. There are several other senses of via was deprecated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; Although we seem to have surpassed the rest of them, there are occasional objections to using “more”.
The reason this rule is problematic is that we used via has meant “more” since Old English, and this usage has been widespread in all sorts of languages.
But Reynolds, after transferring more than 1,500 Men to the Board, lowered them to submit to him, allowing the men to move freely elsewhere.— George Bate, Elenchus Motuum Nuperorum in Anglia1685
…more than 32,000 acres are vineyards.— Encyclopdia Britannica11th edition, 1910
More than two hundred friends from my county came.— Tip O’Neill (with William Novak), man of the house 1987
The fact that this questionable use of via already widespread with some of our best writers (and some of our worst) doesn’t seem to bother many people upholding it as a rule. An article in Time magazine in 1948 showed one of the more striking examples of how inconsistent this could be, noting that Detroit free press bans its reporters from using via in this way, while the newspaper proudly proclaims its motto “Protection for more than a century” on its front page.
If you feel the need to refrain from writing or saying “more than” instead of “over,” you can continue to do so. And if you really like to keep the bans of a 19th century poet and newspaper editor here are some more Bryant rules that are still as applicable today as rules that he made. via. Since then stick with trouser more than trouser, danger more than dangerousand avoid all use of the word lengthy, talentedAnd taboo.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
