This, then, is worse than that. So, what then?

There is a rampant misuse of then/than in the forum and my question is:

Do YOU know the difference?

I've read through 17 threads in the past hour (casually looking for shreds of wisdom) and, like fingernails on a chalkboard, I keep seeing seemingly intelligent people (and a few boneheads) misuse them both...CONSTANTLY. I am no pillar of gramatical wisdom...my spelling is, in fact, highly suspect. I know the pitfalls of there/their/they're and to/too/two, but then/than are not even phonetically identical...they are distinctly DIFFERENT words and are not phonetically interchangable.

THEN: an indication of time...I'll see you then...I want to kill Charr, then whiptails...First there was an explosion, then there was fire...Now and then, I get irritated and go on rants.

THAN: an indication of quantity....I have more gold than you....Power shot uses more energy than Hunter's shot...I have been more fed up than this...I hope to get flamed less on this thread than the one I wrote about 1337 (I never actually posted anything about 1337, so don't go looking).

Not to bust anyone's hump (not the icy hump the ettins drop)...but this is REALLY bothering me. I like reading the tid-bits of wisdom (and the giant chunks of vernacular refuse) keyed in here every day...but the blatant abuse of these two words has GOT TO STOP....read the "English Language" sticky...please know the difference and act accordingly *wipes tear from eye*

That said: Anyone know how I can spellcheck a thread before posting?

One can only assume you must think everyone is english? lol Just because this is an english board you think only english speaking people venture here?
My native tougue is not that of english and I know I make some mistakes but I try.
For you to say an english mistake comes from stupid people shows my how narrow minded you must be.

THEN:

1.At that time: I was still in school then. Come at noon; I'll be ready then.
2.Next in time, space, or order; immediately afterward: watched the late movie and then went to bed.
3.In addition; moreover; besides: It costs $20, and then there's the sales tax to pay.
4.Used after but to qualify or balance a preceding statement: The star was nervous, but then who isn't on the first night of a new play.
5.In that case; accordingly: If traffic is heavy, then allow extra time.
6.As a consequence; therefore: The case, then, is closed.

Then actually refers more to quanitity than the next one.

THAN:

1.Used after a comparative adjective or adverb to introduce the second element or clause of an unequal comparison: She is a better athlete than I.
2.Used to introduce the second element after certain words indicating difference: He draws quite differently than she does.
3.When. Used especially after hardly and scarcely: I had scarcely walked in the door than the commotion started.

Than is normally used when comparing or contrasting. So you almost got the two backwards. These explanations have been taken from "Dictionary.com". But either way... good gripe. Hehe.

*Added Note* Rasputan also brings up a good point. You would almost be expecting everyone here to be English speaking, and grammatically correct which would take a certain level of education. Keep in mind that this is a free game, and therefore will attract younger players who have probably not gone through the same level of education as you have.

Another possibility lies that they are at the same level as you, but were not taught the correct way to distinguish the two variations which in then now brings upon blame to the parents or education faculty.

To make one additional point... a spell checker wouldn't help in this case because it's not spelling we're worried about. You'd need something that would recommend revising fragmentations or grammatically incorrect phrases. Not commonly found on most forums.

Google has a beta tool bar that spell checks inside forums. I`ve had it for a few months and works well......when you use it.

Does this post even belong here?

Don't sweat the little things.

Just take a deep breath, than (har har) take a big drink!

@ Twin Raven

oh dear...

As a fellow pedant I can only agree that the constant misspelling/misuse of words is annoying, but you really need to be a little more constructive. People generally do their best, and its tough posting in another language. My next best language is probably French. I wouldn't dare post in it! Lets just forget Latin. Then again (tehee) I do get annoyed with the TXTing brigade. If you've got a keyboard, use the damn thing. Even l33t is less annoying than (ooh!) people saying u for you et.c. (ahha)

Roll up, Roll up - Free English lessons here!

btw, I'm English and speak the Queen's English, not that second rate Amerish that some people confuse with the original so I can even do dialect coaching on TS if you like
(uhoh, RUN!)

You spelled grammatical and interchangeable wrong, knowing you can't spell doesn't make it any less annoying to me.

But you don't see me making threads about it, do you?

Then and Than errors annoy me too. Do what I do, bottle it up inside until some day you're lucky enough to have some jackass armed with little more than a knife break into your house in the middle of the night only to find you sleep with a lead pipe next to your bed and let him have it.

Lead Pipe to the head>knife.

Clue ftw.