My favorite is "preventative" Where in hell did this word come from. I always thought the proper word was "preventive".
Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Johnston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 5:51 PM Subject: OT: Obnoxious Sonofabitch Copyeditor > Also, I'm so sorry about this, but I'm about to ramp up into schoolmaster > mode. I do this every now and then, and I *know* it's obnoxious. I'm fully > aware that *most* of you are smarter and better educated than I am and just > as capable and accomplished in your own fields as I am in mine. But the > thing is, see, I'm an editor, and in my field we work with words, and, well, > certain things that may be invisible to you are like fingernails on a > blackboard to me. > > So here goes, I'm lettin' this rip. Please ignore me at will. > > LESS is an amount or volume word. FEWER is a number word. > > You can have less water in a bucket, less brains in your head, and you could > care less. But you have FEWER elements in a lens, ten items or FEWER in the > Express Lane at the supermarket, FEWER than 50 ways to leave your lover. > > Similarly, OVER is a position word. A bridge can be over a brook, a joke can > go right over your head, but it hasn't been OVER a hundred years since the > Tessar was invented; it's been MORE THAN a hundred years since then. > > Nodoby ever get these things right (even network news anchors used "over" > incorrectly), but it drives me crazy anyway. > > You may return to your regular programming...sorry again. (Most of the time, > I'm really getting pretty good at holding my tongue.) > > --Mike >
