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Bob
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:17 am
Post subject: THEN for THAN |
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Years ago while reading the newsgroup comp.dcom.modems, I noticed a
frequent poster would always type "then" when he meant "than". Since
then I've noticed many other people consistently making this mistake in
other newsgroups and on various other forums. Yet I rarely ever see
anyone type "than" for "then", and never does anyone consistently type
"than" for "then".
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Why is it so common?
It seems to be in a class by itself from other common errors and typos
such as your/you're, there/their/they're, should of, its/it's, etc.
(including my misuse of quotes).
Here are a few examples:
http://tinyurl.com/ay5x6
http://tinyurl.com/anv8e
http://tinyurl.com/8v87x
--Bob
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:56 am
Post subject: Re: THEN for THAN |
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Bob wrote:
| Quote: |
Years ago while reading the newsgroup comp.dcom.modems, I noticed a
frequent poster would always type "then" when he meant "than". Since
then I've noticed many other people consistently making this mistake in
other newsgroups and on various other forums. Yet I rarely ever see
anyone type "than" for "then", and never does anyone consistently type
"than" for "then".
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Why is it so common?
|
Ignorance, laziness, and lousy typing. I won't try to assign
percentages.
| Quote: |
It seems to be in a class by itself from other common errors and typos
such as your/you're, there/their/they're, should of, its/it's, etc.
(including my misuse of quotes).
|
Originally "then" covered the territory now covered by the two words
combined and was sometimes spelled "than" in those less rigorous days,
but not systematically. Then "than" gradually split off around 1700
to apply to some senses, while "then" continued to apply to the rest.
You can trace this through the Online Etymology Dictionary
<http://www.etymonline.com> or other similar works.
None of the other common errors you cite, and none of the others I can
think of, involve two words with a common etymology. I'll let you
decide whether that's significant.
--
Bob Lieblich
Who confused the two as a kid |
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Adrian Bailey
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:08 pm
Post subject: Re: THEN for THAN |
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"Bob" <nospam@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:HDhZe.1525$ua.83208@twister.southeast.rr.com...
| Quote: | Years ago while reading the newsgroup comp.dcom.modems, I noticed a
frequent poster would always type "then" when he meant "than". Since
then I've noticed many other people consistently making this mistake in
other newsgroups and on various other forums. Yet I rarely ever see
anyone type "than" for "then", and never does anyone consistently type
"than" for "then".
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Why is it so common?
|
Because the "a" in "than" is pronounced either "ae" or shwa. In fact, the
way we pronounce short "a" is so close to short "e"** that many foreigners
assume that words containing short "a" actually contain short "e". In
Hungarian, for example, where prepositions*** take different forms depending
on the main vowel in the word they go with, "with Sally" would be
"Sally-vel" and not "Sally-val".
**in standard English. In Britain, Northerners still use a relatively pure
"a" sound.
***_postpositions_, really, I suppose.
Adrian
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Bob
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:03 pm
Post subject: Re: THEN for THAN |
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Robert Lieblich wrote:
| Quote: | Originally "then" covered the territory now covered by the two words
combined and was sometimes spelled "than" in those less rigorous days,
but not systematically. Then "than" gradually split off around 1700
to apply to some senses, while "then" continued to apply to the rest.
You can trace this through the Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com> or other similar works.
None of the other common errors you cite, and none of the others I can
think of, involve two words with a common etymology. I'll let you
decide whether that's significant.
|
Fascinating. I never would have guessed the two words share a common
etymology. Have to doubt it plays a significant role today in people
using "then" for "than".
This probably ranks up there with me finding out that "till" is older
than "until", when I use to think people writing "till" should have been
writing "'til".
-Bob |
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Bob
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:03 pm
Post subject: Re: THEN for THAN |
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Adrian Bailey wrote:
| Quote: | Because the "a" in "than" is pronounced either "ae" or shwa. In fact, the
way we pronounce short "a" is so close to short "e"** that many foreigners
assume that words containing short "a" actually contain short "e". In
Hungarian, for example, where prepositions*** take different forms depending
on the main vowel in the word they go with, "with Sally" would be
"Sally-vel" and not "Sally-val".
**in standard English. In Britain, Northerners still use a relatively pure
"a" sound.
***_postpositions_, really, I suppose.
|
I've heard this before, that the similarity in pronunciation may be a
reason why some people write "then" for "than". Makes sense, but I've
yet to come across someone who gets it the other way around -
consistently writing "than" for "then". (Though I know a man who
frequently mistypes "that" for "than".)
For me the two words are pronounce differently - "then" sounds the same
as "thin". In fact, in most words I say "en" and "em" the same as "in"
and "im" (enter=inter-, pen=pin, hem=him, etc.). If I attempt to say
the former differently from the latter, they come out sounding more like
"an" and "am". I am in the southeastern US.
-Bob |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:45 pm
Post subject: Re: THEN for THAN |
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"Bob" <nospam@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:lFS%e.77137$SL.1968291@twister.southeast.rr.com...
| Quote: | Robert Lieblich wrote:
Originally "then" covered the territory now covered by the two words
combined and was sometimes spelled "than" in those less rigorous days,
but not systematically. Then "than" gradually split off around 1700
to apply to some senses, while "then" continued to apply to the rest. You
can trace this through the Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com> or other similar works.
None of the other common errors you cite, and none of the others I can
think of, involve two words with a common etymology. I'll let you
decide whether that's significant.
Fascinating. I never would have guessed the two words share a common
etymology. Have to doubt it plays a significant role today in people
using "then" for "than".
This probably ranks up there with me finding out that "till" is older than
"until", when I use to think people writing "till" should have been
writing "'til".
|
One of the texts set by Benjamin Britten is his "Ceremony of Carols" has
"thank Him than" meaning "so thank Him" - an instance of "than" for "then"
in (I think) 15th century English.
Alan Jones |
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