Over vs. More than

I'm surprised the example of "against" vs. "over" when it comes to a "win over" someone hasn't been brought up, unless I've missed it before. I don't like over in that instance either, but it seems to be pretty prevalent in a lot of places.

 

Is this thread over!

 

More than!

 

Readers will understand what you mean if you type "their" insead of "there" or if you type "Ludaynian" Tomlinson

Doesn't mean you should do it.

 

Yes, but readers notice a mispelled word.

Only anal-retentive, ex-grammar teachers or copy editors pay attention to "over" and "more than" or all the other little word-choice debates we've been having since the first time ink went to paper. Readers DO NOT CARE.

But in the time it took a copy editor to change it eight places in the paper, said copy editor may have screwed up a headline or missed seeing a fact error. It's a big waste of time to sweat this when we have fewer people to check and less time in which to do it.

 

That's what the Canadian Press style guide said for the longest time, too. The latest edition, however, says the two are interchangeable.

 

I'm guessing you're the copy editors' favorite writer.

 

I'm glad that I don't need to pay such attention to detail now when I do my job. Are you people actually reading what you're typing? Good lord. I'd kill a writer with that attitude.

 

I hate when people use these two wrong. The anchors I work with though? They could care less. I write "more than", they change it to "over" saying it doesn't matter, but it does. It's the same as them saying towards and they do it all the time.

 

No doubt. It's "more than 500 showed up to parade."

 

Nope, I am the copy editor's BOSS and I am looking out for them. I want them focusing on 1) not getting us sued; 2) catching fact errors; 3) helping the writers be better in a structural sense; 4) making deadline.
Haggling over these nuances that MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE READER are wastes of their time and energy. Tomato, tamatoh, eh.

 

Sorry, Beach_Bum, nothing personal, but this is a really depressing attitude for a pro.

I've loosened up on some things over the years, win vs. victory being one I'm finally just letting go.

But the overall attitude that readers don't give a shit about this so we shouldn't either is a number of things: depressing (again), mind-boggling, infuriating, puzzling, all of the above.

You know who cares about this? Fucking professionals do. (I'm getting more pissed as I type.) People who care about doing their jobs right do. The best in the business do.

The more we give in and stop worrying about shit like this, the more readers are right: We're simply a bunch of hacks, and they could do their job just as well as we can.

That's a crappy attitude, and please don't send a resume in my direction as long as you continue to believe it.