Flammable and inflammable

[Michael Quinion]

Many thanks to Joel S Berson, David A Daniel and David Barnhart for your
comments.


> A questioner to World Wide Words has raised the issue of "flammable" and
> "inflammable". As I'm from the wrong side of the Atlantic, it would be a
> great help if list members would comment on the assertion in the draft that
> "Americans now use 'flammable' widely in non-technical speech and writing."
>
> Printed works and social media suggest this is so, but appearances may
> deceive. The statistics suggest that US speakers actually prefer to use
> "flammable" than "inflammable" (the former is much more common in current
> newspapers, for example), unlike non-technical usage in Canada, Britain or
> Australia.

--
Michael Quinion
World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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