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by zimpenfish 2301 days ago
>archaic British

If even that.

I think "3.5x faster" to mean "3.5x as fast" is fairly common, pretty clear, and very understandable to anyone but daft grammar prescriptivists.

1 comments

And here's an actual expert to provide a view: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=463

> A personal note: I know the disparagement of Times-er from long ago, from my grade school years, I think; I was taught that two times more than X really means 'three times as many as X'. Since authority figures insisted on this interpretation, I avoided the construction entirely (as, as far as I know, I still do). Yet I've never stopped asking, "Why don't you understand the clear meaning of what people are saying?"