The Universe of Discourse

"Farther" vs. "further"
People mostly use "farther" and "further" interchangeably. What's the difference?

I looked it up in the dictionary, and it turns out it's simple. "Farther" means "more far". "Further" means "more forward".

"Further" does often connote "farther", because something that is further out is usually farther away, and so in many cases the two are interchangeable. For example, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further" (Job 38:11.)

But now when I see people write things like China Steps Further Back From Democracy (The New York Times, 26 November 1995) or, even worse, Big Pension Plans Fall Further Behind (Washington Post, 7 June 2005) it freaks me out.

Google finds 3.2 million citations for "further back", and 9.5 million for "further behind", so common usage is strongly in favor of this. But a quick check of the OED does not reveal much historical confusion between these two. Of the citations there, I can only find one that rings my alarm bell. ("1821 J. BAILLIE Metr. Leg., Wallace lvi, In the further rear.")

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