[Ads-l] "best-known" avoidance

[Nancy Friedman]

Not just “most well known”: I've also seen “most well preserved,” “most
well designed,” and even “most well dressed.”

Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
https://wordworking.com
https://fritinancy.substack.com

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On Wed, May 29, 2024, 12:52 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> For several years (five? ten? more?) I've been noticing that cable news
> people have conspicuously dropped "best-known" in favor of the pointlessly
> extended "most well-known."
>
> Weird hypercorrection?  Or what?
>
> OED has "best-known," without comment, from 1541.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org