It was asked of me today which of the following is correct: “couldn’t be further from the truth” or “couldn’t be farther from the truth.” My ear told me the former, but without any objective reason for thinking so, I turned to my well-worn copy of Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians.
Brians points out that “some authorities…insist on ‘farther’ to refer to physical distance and on ‘further’ to refer to an extent of time or degree.” True enough, though one of the “authorities” he cites is the Associated Press—an organization whose rules are as arbitrary as their style is wooden. Brians goes on to recommend making the distinction between the two.
Not satisfied, I picked up Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (the first edition, published in 1926) and, true to form, the old man wastes no time in straightening things out:
The fact is surely that hardly anyone uses the two words for different occasions; most people prefer one or the other for all purposes, & the preference of the majority is for further; the most that should be said is perhaps that farther is not common except where distance is in question.…On the whole, though differentiations are good in themselves, it is less likely that one will be established for farther & further than that the latter will become universal.
So. The short answer to the question of which is correct? Trust your ear.
