Moreso
moreso
From a student's homework assignment, a week ago:
(1) Number one is not necessarily
a problem with pronouns, but moreso just an incorrect slip of the
tongue.
The
moreso caught my
eye. In a minor way because of the spelling, as a single
word. In a major way because of the usage; spelling
moreso as two words doesn't make
the sentence any less baffling to me:
(2) Number one is not necessarily
a problem with pronouns, but more so just an incorrect slip of the
tongue.
More so is functioning here
like contrastive
more (not
far from
rather in its
effect), reinforcing the
but.
I can use
more, without the
so, this way --
(3) Number one is not necessarily
a problem with pronouns, but more just an incorrect slip of the tongue.
or
more of (preferably losing
the
just) --
(4) Number one is not necessarily
a problem with pronouns, but more of (just) an incorrect slip of the
tongue.
But
more so just doesn't cut
it for me; the
so seems
extraneous.
Recent versions of the
OED
recognize the spelling
moreso
(in the U.S.) but not the innovative usage in (1) and (2), or further
innovations to be found in writing on the web. I offer this
material as fodder for lexicographers, along with some speculations
about the development of innovative
moreso/
more so.
First, the spelling question. The spelling
moreso is deprecated in several
usage sources (for example, Paul Brians's
Common Errors in English Usage and
Evan Morris's
Word Detective
site), but it is very common, and the Dec. 2002 draft revision of the
OED relevant subsection on
more mentions it as an American
variant:
(5) With ellipsis of the word or
sentence modified. Now freq. with anaphoric so... in more so (also, chiefly U.S. moreso).
In what follows, I'll mostly be citing examples with
moreso, simply because searches for
this variant produce less junk than searches for
more so. But all the uses
below could be equally well documented with
more so examples.
Now, on to the uses, beginning with those documented by the
OED. As background, there are
occurrences of
more with
"zero anaphora":
(6a) 1852 M. ARNOLD Farewell viii, I too have wish'd,
no woman more, This starting,
feverish heart away.
(6b) 1862 G. BORROW Wild Wales
lii, 'Are the Welsh..as clannish as the Highlanders?' said I. 'Yes',
said he, 'and a good deal more'.
And then
more followed by
anaphoric
so:
(7a) 1735 G. BERKELEY Def. Free-thinking in Math.
§28 This is so plain that nothing can be more so.
(7b) 1788 J. MADISON in Federalist
Papers lvii. 158 The districts in New Hampshire in which the
senators are chosen immediately by the people, are nearly as large as
will be necessary for her representatives in the congress. Those of
Massachusetts are larger than will be necessary for that purpose. And
those of New-York still more so.
(7c) 1816 J. AUSTEN Emma
I. xii. 209 'I only want to know that Mr. Martin is not very, very
bitterly disappointed.' 'A man cannot be more so,' was his short, full answer.
(7d) 1997 C. SHAW Sc. Myths
& Customs x. 223 Anyone perceived as being different from
society's norms was a potential target--no-one moreso than the local wise-woman.
The important point here is that
more
with zero anaphora and
more
with anaphoric
so are in
alternation. Either could replace the other in the examples in
(6) and (7); (7d) with plain
more
is especially felicitous, to my ear. The choice between one
variant and the other is a stylistic one. One relevant effect is
that, in general, explicit anaphora, as in
more so, tends to be seen as more
emphatic or contrastive than zero anaphora, as in plain
more.
This is as far as the
OED
goes. The examples are all anaphoric. But the
so in (1) and (2) is not
anaphoric. It is, however, contrastive/emphatic, a fact that
suggests a possible route from the system illustrated in the
OED to the system illustrated in
(1) and (2): alternating
more
and
moreso have been
reinterpreted as mere plain and emphatic counterparts, with no
necessary anaphoricity. This system is amply illustrated on the
web, notably by many examples with
moreso
followed by
than:
(8a) Even moreso than in our dealings with our
fellow humans, our dealings with the life world are mired in traditions
which vary from gratitude and awe to harvesting and stewardship and on
to subdue and exploit.
http://meme.com.au/theoria/ethical_tripod.html
(8b) I would say that the term Theism implies a system of belief
based on tradition and dogma moreso
than on logic and empirical observation.
http://www.improvedclinch.com/index.php/weblog/comments/imore_gay_stuff_i/
(8c) The grace of the art is there moreso than in karate, etc., but it
is not dancing. It is relying on physics and other principles moreso than karate etc. ...
forum.japantoday.com/m_375137/mpage_2/tm.htm
but also without an explicit
than
for comparison, as in (1) and
(9) My wife and I were watching
the making of Disney's Oliver and Company on DVD. Unlike today's
extensively (and sometimes exhaustively) researched "making-of"
featurettes, you could tell this one was used moreso as a marketing tool.
http://www.kartooner.com/archives/2005/03/28/the-state-of-animation/
At this point,
moreso is open
to a further reinterpretation, as a simple contrastive sentence
adverbial glossable as 'even more, it is even more the case
(that/since)', without any specific standard of comparison implicated:
(10a) Unpopulated structural
elements of 'national households' evolved; moreso, those structural elements
were developed (from the beginning of the most harsh environmental
requirements for expenditure of human life on Earth).
http://www.ovaloffice.org/
(10b) Of course I want this guy to stop spamming people, but moreso, I want this guy to at least
take my email off his return path when sending out these...
forum.spamcop.net/forums/ lofiversion/index.php/t3738.html
(10c) Hello,
Am mr donald ,a pilot by proffesion and i reside in the usa.am glad to
inform you that am sicerely interested in the adoption of your pet. am
guarantee the pet a lovely home . Moreso the pet is coming to a large
and a fenced garden in which it will be comfortable in playing up to
any length. At the risk of sounding rude kindly let me know the last
asking price , moreso i would
love to see the pics and as well i want to know the name of the
pet. [AMZ: Except for bolding, I've left this remarkable item
exactly as it appeared online.]
http://www.petpages.com/Forum/MSGViewThread.asp?CMD=NEW&ID=327
or as a simple contrastive adverb combining with a NP and glossable as
'especially':
(11a) People and moreso, soldiers, should know that
conscientious objetion is not about any particular war, but to war per
se,...
www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ArticleNews.jhtml?itemNo=492015&contrassID=13&subContrassID=1&sbS
(11b) Yeah, you'll notice that most of the retards you run into
play hunters and rogues, hunters moreso.
forums.gamedaily.com/index. php?act=findpost&pid=1451187
In all these developments, the connection to anaphoric comparative
more (
so) hasn't been entirely lost,
though the uses have drifted pretty far from the models in the
OED.
zwicky at-sign csli period stanford period edu
Posted by Arnold Zwicky at May 30, 2005 01:09 PM