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GRAMMAR NAZI!!!

Farther vs. Further

I am going to take GrammarGirl's Explanation of it, because it is pretty quirky and fresh.

The quick and dirty tip here is that you use farther to talk about physical distance and further to talk about metaphorical, or figurative, distance. It's easy to remember because farther has the word far in it, and far obviously relates to physical distance.

For example, you might say, “Squiggly and the aardvark walked to a town far, far away. After many miles, Squiggly grew tired. 'How much farther?' he asked in despair.”

Did you hear that? Squiggly used farther because he was asking about physical distance.

If the aardvark was frustrated with Squiggly, he might say, “Squiggly, I'm tired of your complaining; further, I'm tired of carrying your marimbas.” In this case, the aardvark used further because he isn't talking about physical distance, he's talking about a metaphorical distance: further along the list of irritations.

Simple. It is also been said that really, you can't go wrong using further, but only use farther if talking about distance.

I can sleep better knowing that you know that now. Have a good one. e