[WikiEN-l] "Well known"

[Fred Bauder]

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
>
>