Showing posts with label more than. Show all posts
Showing posts with label more than. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2013

More than vs. over

My wife Holly, a former newspaper copy editor, says she "cringes" when people use "over" when "more than" is correct.

"I was taught that over was for physical things like, 'I stepped over the snake,' " she said. " 'There were more than a doen on the ground.' "

I agree, but it wasn't always so. Nearly 30 years ago, my boss and friend Pete and I were editing a story. The writer said that a runner had gained "over 1,000 yards" on the football field, and Pete almost went ballistic.

"The cow jumped OVER the moon; the runner gained MORE than 1,000 yards," he exclaimed. Others in the newsroom looked at Pete like he was crazy. Crazed, maybe. Words meant a lot to him.

Same with me. Same with Holly.

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

More on over and more than

I just read an authoritative dissertation on how The Associated Press is anal retentive about the use of "over" and "more than." According to AP, you don't say "over one billion burgers sold"; AP would say "more than one billion..."

 The blog writer says that "over" and "more than" have been interchangeable since the 14th century. He says that copy editors are wasting their time changing over to more than. At one time, I would have said that it didn't matter. In fact, I did say that.

 I was editing a story in 1984 (I have a long memory), and my boss looked over my shoulder and pointed to "over." Perhaps it said that "over 40 football players were injured." He said he preferred "more than," so I changed it. At the time, I had no opinion.

 But, over the years, my opinion changed. As my boss/friend said, the cow jumped over the moon, but more than 20 cattle followed him.

 The blog writer is welcome to his opinion, but, if I can, I prefer to be precise.
Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

Entries from The Dog Blog
Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

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Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

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