Re: Rs

Jake X wrote:

>[tSr\Ist@n r\oUt]
>
>
>>True, but that's wasted on Americans who pronounce 'cot' and 'caught'
>>the same. And it's not as if the homophones cause much trouble; context
>>normally sorts it out. And the homophony has meant that we've finally
>>sorted out when you should use 'farther' and when you should use
>>'further' (you use 'farther' when you can't spell and are talking about
>>a male parent, and 'further' when talking about distance).
>>
>>
>That's not what I've read.  I read that you say farther when your talking
>about distance, and further when you're talking about continuance of an
>action.
>
See, the thing is, in my dialect, 'father' and 'farther' are homophones.
'Further' and 'farther' are sort-of synonyms (they are both comparitives
of 'far'). So we basically decided to ditch 'farther' (not as a concious
effort, mind you). 'Further' and 'furthest' (and perhaps 'more further'
and 'most furth(er)est') are the only comparitives or superlatives of
'far', regardless of what you're talking about.

(In your dialect, it's probably perfectly fine to say something like 'I
wrote him', but to us, that means you wrote down the lettters H, I and M
in that order, unless you can't spell.)

>  Here are examples of the usage as I know it:
>
>"It is farther from Los Angeles to San Francisco than it is from New York
>to Boston."
>
I say 'It is further from Melbourne to Perth than it is from Canberra to
Sydney'.

>"I'm breathing heavily.  I can't run any further."
>
>
'I'm breathing heavily. I can't run any more.' (But if I were to use
either of further and farther, it would definately be 'further'.)

--
Tristan                  <kesuari@...>

There's no such thing as an infinite loop. Eventually, the computer will break.
-- John D. Sullivan

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