Use ‘farther’ while you can
August 21st, 2008 at 07:00am Barry Wood
When referring to degrees of “far,” the preferred usage — by far — is “farther” (or “farthest”) for physical distances and “further” (or “furthest”) for extensions of time or degree. So, we walk “farther” into the woods, but we look “further” into how we got lost.
As noted by Mark Davidson in “Right, Wrong, and Risky,” only “further” will work as an adjective meaning “additional,” as in “for further reading,” and as a verb for “to advance,” as in, “She decided to further her education.”
There’s also “furthermore” for “in addition; besides; moreover.” There is no “farthermore.” And “furthermost” is the same as “farthest,” but the former is fairly uncommon.
Theodore M. Bernstein, writing in 1978 in “The Careful Writer,” speculated that the use of “farther” would vanish within 50 years. But so far, it’s hanging in there.
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4 Comments Add your own
1. Pat Cunningham | August 21st, 2008 at 9:29 am
Word Dude: They don’t have a problem with this stuff in certain parts of the South. In either case, they just say “futher.” And nobody ever confuses it with “father,” because that word is never used in the South. They prefer “daddy” or “paw.” (”You should go a little futher down the road and visit his paw and discuss the matter a little futher.”)
2. Barry Wood | August 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
Hey, Pat, nice to hear from you — and thanks for the chuckle. It almost makes me wish I had included Bernstein’s pun about why he thought the days of “farther” were numbered: “because it looks as if ‘farther’ is going to be mowed down by the scythe of Old Further Time.”
3. Leonardo duh Vinci | August 25th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Yes, in some parts of the U.S., pronunciations of the English language really get bent out of shape. I have heard the question posed; “Can I axe you a question?”
4. Barry Wood | August 26th, 2008 at 1:02 am
A number of people have difficulty pronouncing “ask,” but for some reason putting a consonant sound at the front seems to take care of it: for example, “bask,” “cask,” “mask” and “task.” It was The Onion, I think, that did a funny twist on this in a headline about multiple homicides by using the term “ask murderer.”
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