the ZuppeQueen Chronicles

When the ZuppeQueen and I first met in San Francisco she could not tell by my voice I was from Texas.  I had traveled quite a bit working in various parts of the world before we met and one of the things that tends to happen when you travel quite often is that you begin to loose your native accent.  Well that is what happened to me and my light Texas accent did not show much in general conversation.  That is true with one exception.  When I get tired, I tend to sound ”real Texan”.

I must admit I rather enjoyed the shock value and attention when people discovered I was 100% Texan, conceived and born. Still there was one Texan sounding word I never seemed to be able to shake, “futhur”.  You know like in the three forms of the word… farther further futhur in the Texan dialect!  Everyone in Texas knows those three words, even George W. Bush in his speeches acknowledges the word “futhur” from time to time.  I explained to the ZuppeaQueen that “further was more than farther and that futhur more than further”. Still, the ZuppeQueen did not buy off on that logic so her chuckles became ceasless on the subject.

Well now for the benefit of all the persecuted Texans I have researched the subject and came up with this primer…..

Two words often confused by non-Texans are farther and further. Is it farther down the road or further? Do you have to read further in the book or farther? Do you further your education? Yes! Let’s take a look at the meanings for these two words.   FARTHER denotes physical advancement in distance.  FURTHER denotes advancement to greater degree, as in time.    The correct answers to the above examples follow: It is farther down the road. (For distance physically traveled.)  

 You can read further into this blog. (To a greater degree than where you are now.) You further your education. (To a greater degree than what you have now.) 

Practice test:     

1. How much __________ do you plan to drive tonight?     

2. I’ve reached the end of my rope with this dog chewing up the carpet. I just can’t go any _____________.      

3. Do you have any _______________ plans for adding on to the building?    

4. That’s a lot _____________ than I want to carry this machine and tripod!    

5. The _____________ that I travel down this road, the ____________ behind schedule I get.    

6. How much ___________ do you intend to take this legal matter?          

7. I want to ___________ my career by taking some management courses.    

8. It’s not that much ____________ to the gas station.    

9. How much ____________ do I have to read in this text?    

10. How much __________ do I have to run, Coach?    

Answer Key:    

1. farther    

2. further    

3. further    

4. farther    

5. farther, further    

6. further    

7. further    

8. farther    

9. further    

10. farther

So I hope the lesson above helps the “farther word” impaired people out there and if any of ya’ll need futhur discussion on the topic please contact the ZuppeKing.