elephant astounded me. Traditional usage: The enormity of Stalin's purges astounds me. F farther and further – Many adhere to the rule that farther only should refer to matters of physical distance or position, while further should be reserved for usages involving time or degree (as well as undisputed descriptions of moreover and in addition). Disputed usage: San Jose is further from L.A. than Santa Barbara. Disputed usage: L.A. was a couple of hours farther from home than I expected. Disputed usage: If her fever increases any farther, I will call the doctor. Undisputed usage: I would like to discuss the issue further at a later time. fortuitously – Used by some interchangeably with fortunately, strictly speaking fortuitousness is a reference to an occurrence depending on chance. M-W notes that use of the word in the sense of "fortunate" has been standard for at least 70 years, and notes that the sense of "coming or happening by a lucky chance" is virtually unnoticed by usage critics. G gender – Gender is often used interchangeably with sex in the sense of the biological or social qualities, male and female. It is never used to refer to sexual intercourse. Gender traditionally refers to grammatical gender, a feature in the grammar of a number of different languages. Some argue that its use as a euphemism for sex is to be avoided as a genteelism; Fowler (p. 211) says it is used "either as a jocularity ... or a blunder." Sex and gender can be used in different but related senses, with sex referring to biological characteristics and gender to social roles and expectations based on sex. Use of gender as interchangeable with or as a replacement for sex may confuse readers who draw this distinction. See gender identity, gender role. H hoi polloi – The question surrounding hoi polloi is whether it is appropriate to use the article the preceding the phrase; it arises because οἱ (hoi) is the Greek word for "the" in the phrase and classical purists complain that adding the makes the phrase redundant: "the the common people". Foreign phrases borrowed into English are often reanalyzed as single grammatical units, requiring an English article in appropriate contexts. AHD4 says "The Arabic element al- means 'the', and appears in English nouns such as alcohol and alchemy. Thus, since no one would consider a phrase such as the alcohol to be redundant,