[WikiEN-l] "Well known"

[Carcharoth]

Have you ever read any of the more disputatious Manual of Style talk pages?

Carcharoth

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Fred Bauder<fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
> I suppose, as in matters of internet deportment, civility, we must also
> accept the burden of maintaining the standard for English usage, global
> English usage. It is a grim and dreary business, but I must admit it is
> our responsibility.
>
> Fred
>
>> Fred Bauder wrote:
>>>> For a change, something on English usage. A trawl through some usage
>>>> books tells me nothing much about "most well known", which I'm
>>>> convinced
>>>> is a solecism, and should be "best-known". The hyphenation I think is
>>>> standard anyway. Sadly Google believes there are 11,000 instances for
>>>> "most well known" on enWP, and I'd prefer none to be in article space.
>>>>
>>>> Charles
>>>>
>>>
>>> Well, both expressions, both with and without hyphen, seem to be in
>>> general use. Now that you've mentioned it, I can't recall which of the
>>> four possibilities I habitually use. Right now "best known" seems best,
>>> but I wouldn't waste one second changing a most well known into a best
>>> known.
>>>
>> Ah ... I would. How about "much more well known", versus "better-known",
>> because our general style tends to understatement? Anyway I have been
>> zapping those. Any such trawl finds other problems to fix.
>>
>> Charles
>>
>>
>
>
>
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