It’s more than, but over OK
It seems like yesterday. Four years ago this month, copy editors across the nation had a big shock.
The Associated Press Stylebook committee announced that the word “over” was as acceptable as “more than” when comparing numbered items.
In the past, those following the stylebook would accept:
I had the hiccups for more than 10 minutes.
They would automatically change it if they saw this:
I had the hiccups for over 10 minutes.
Editors follow the AP Stylebook to be consistent on all sorts of word usages. The committee said the rampant use of both “over” and “more than” prompted the change.
The Associated Press made the announcement, among others, at that year’s conference of copy editors. A witness from the Poynter Institute reported the sound of copy editors gasping at the decision.
I will confess that I, too, gasped when I read it.
Grammar experts around the country seemed to be doing their best to calm the fretting “more than” camp. A couple said that “more than” has always been more of a tradition than a grammar rule.
It can be hard to abandon a practice of more than 25 years. But I will go on. I find comfort in the fact that I still can continue to use “more than” when I want to. The stylebook said “over” is “acceptable,” not required. Word endings can be fickle. A common way of indicating the past tense of a verb is to add “ed” or “d” to the end.
“Steeped” and “skated” are two examples.
Many verbs end in “t” in the past tense.
Examples of these: crept, dealt, felt, kept, left, lost, meant and slept.
And a number of words in the past tense vary in American English and British English.
Americans say “leaned” while Britons say “leant.’’
Other examples of verbs used differently in the two countries: dreamed — dreamt dwelled — dwelt leaped — leapt spelled — spelt
Naturally, some words can be used with either ending. In the United States, we use “burned”
or “burnt” and “kneeled” or “knelt.’’
JUST A DUMMY
English spelling has many silent letters, or dummy letters. Those are letters that are plopped in the middle of words but not pronounced.
One study found that silent letters are in about 60 percent of English words. Still, their presence seems wacky.
Some of these silent letters were pronounced centuries back. And, long ago, their spellings were written down. Over time, the pronunciations changed and the spelling
changes couldn’t keep up with the pace. That’s just one reason the letters are present but not pronounced.
The silent “l” is commonly found before one of four letters: d, f, k and m.
The “l” is silent in all these words:
Calm, palm, qualm, salmon, should, could, would, balk, chalk, talk, walk, half, calf and folk.
HAVE SOME SPARE TIME?
Almost as good as having a hobby, pastime or passion is having one that has a cool name.
Bells: At Cornell University, the bells in McGraw Tower ring out each day. The people who make the bells sing
are called campanologists. The word includes the Latin root for the word “campana,” meaning “bell.” Campanology is also the art of making bells.
Bees: An apiarist is a person who keeps bees. Doesn’t it sound like it would be a person who cares for apes? But “apis” is the Latin word for bee.
Bat caves: Someone who likes to explore caves is a “spelunker.” Apparently those people also need to not dislike bats. The term came from the Latin and Greek words meaning “cave.”
Stamps: Philately is the collecting and study of postage stamps. I have only one way to remember how to spell this word. I think to myself,
“What have you done for me phi-lately?” Within the word is the Greek word “ateleia,” an exemption from payment. This is because when you put a stamp on a letter, it’s a prepayment.
Cards: Deltiology is the collecting of postcards. It comes from the Greek word for writing tablet.
I guess, before long, philately and deltiology will be listed among the ancient arts.