Using the right F-word

Seriously now, you didn’t think I meant that, did you? I’m talking about two word pairs that people often confuse, especially in business conversations:

flesh out or flush out?

and

farther or further?

Picture a planning session. The presenter says we needed to flush out an outline, when he means “to add detail.” Suddenly, I can’t focus on the proposal. That mental picture of the project in a toilet bowl, swirling its way down to the sewer… does the speaker know he has just suggested discarding the whole plan?

People who use flush out in this way mean flesh out, as in adding meat to the bones (or skeleton) of the plan. There is no room for debate on this one. Flush out, in this situation, is always wrong. Flesh out is the phrase to use when you mean that you have a framework, and now you need to develop it further – or is it farther?

That brings me to the next word pair dilemma: farther or further. Traditionally, farther has been used in describing distance:

The finish line is farther away than I thought.

Further has been used in a metaphorical or abstract sense:

Let’s explore this idea a little further.

These are still good general rules, and you can remember that farther contains the word far, as in measurable, physical distance. But the distinction between the two words has become so hazy that even experts disagree. Many uses are ambiguous and it’s hard to be sure which rule applies. For example:

Building this wall is such hard work, I don’t want to continue any (farther or further?).

The length of the wall represents a physical distance, but the amount of effort required is abstract. Unless it’s clearly a measure of distance, further is the safer choice. No reasonable person will criticize you for using either word here.

So, farther down the road, if you’re discussing your Great Idea in an attempt to flesh out your plan and someone says you should flush it out, just collect your things, leave, and refuse to discuss it any further.