In the late 1990s, a friend told me she had used the word “exponentially” in a debate with her brother-in-law. “That’s not a word!” her brother-in-law insisted. “Of course it is,” my friend replied.
From time to time, I get called on to referee grammar disputes. For example, I was recently asked to settle an argument about whether you should write “I’m not into sports” or “I’m not in to sports.” ...