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| | Previous Columns/Posted 07/05/99 |
 | | As in, "Let's examine the myriad facets of the President." Literally, that would mean "Let's examine the 10,000 facets of the President." Frequently, in print and speech, it is used as "a myriad of," like "there was a myriad of choices." Literally, that doesn't work at all ("There was a 10,000 of choices"!). |
 | | Your questions are whether the usage of "myriad" has changed, whether that change is due to popular confusion and/or sloppiness, and whether popular usage, even if wrong, is a good enough reason to change dictionary definitions. |
 | | It is true that the original meaning of "myriad," based on its Greek roots, was "ten thousand." But it is also true that "myriad" has been used by literate writers to mean "large or countless numbers" of something since the 16th century, a very long time ago. |
| www.word-detective.com /070599.html (5474 words) |
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