"sooner than later"

[Dan Goncharoff]

For me the discussion of "sooner than later" has missed an important
element. For me, "rather" expresses a preference -- I'd like it to
happen sooner rather than later.

If one is making a prediction -- It'll happen sooner than later -- the
phrase has its own logic. It won't happen "later"; it'll happen sooner
than that.
DanG



On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 10:28 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      "sooner than later"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Larry Horn on September 4:
>
> I've noticed the "sooner than later" version often enough to conclude that for many it's quite standard.
>
> .....
>
> if so, then we can hope to find people who judge "sooner rather than later" to be less acceptable than "sooner than later" because it's wordy (Omit Needless Words!).
>
> in song:
>
> "Sooner Than Later" [by Drake]
>
> I forgot to call you on your birthday
> You swear your the last thing on my mind, yeah
> There is nothing I could do to fix it
> (All you ever asked me for was time, whoa)
>
> When the lights don't glow the same way that they used to
> And I finally get a moment to myself
> I will realize you were everything I'm missing
> And you tell me you're in love with someone else
> So can you do me a favor if pull it together make it sooner than later
> We won't be here forever and I realized I waited too long but please don't move on
>
> [music here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbs4XK-dk2U ]
>
> and in the sports news yesterday (about football):
>
> Era of the super conference might come sooner than later
> By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/story/2011-09-05/Era-of-the-super-conference-might-come-sooner-than-later/50266938/1
>
> and on August 15 (again about football):
>
> NFL expects female officials sooner than later
> By Doug Farrar
>
> http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/NFL-expects-female-officials-sooner-than-later?urn=nfl-wp5112
>
> then there's Paul Brians's advice:
>
> The traditional expression “sooner rather than later” is now commonly abbreviated to the less logical “sooner than later.” The shorter form is very popular, but is more likely to cause raised eyebrows than the similarly abbreviated expression “long story short.”
>
> http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/soonerthan.html
>
> a simply enormous number of hits.
>
> arnold
>
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