Grammar Q - "Like x better" vs "Like x more"

[torpid]

I don't really understand what it means when someone says, "I like vanilla better than chocolate" or similar. Apparently people now use it interchangeably with liking something more, but why? Doesn't this imply that the liking being done is in some way superior?

It doesn't seem like that is what most people mean when they say the like x better though. Why is it so common? If you asked someone "what do you think of brandy?" they would never say, "I like it really well," they would say "I like it a lot". Therefore isn't liking a question of quantity and not quality?

If it were about quality it would mean something different, right? For example, an alcohol afficionado might say they like brandy better than wild turkey, because they drink wild turkey obsessively to get drunk whereas brandy is appreciated for the taste, even though they like both of them.

Where did liking something better come from? Is that a regional thing? Do people in the south say better and north say more?

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: torpid
I don't really understand what it means when someone says, "I like vanilla better than chocolate" or similar. Apparently people now use it interchangeably with liking something more, but why? Doesn't this imply that the liking being done is in some way superior?

It doesn't seem like that is what most people mean when they say the like x better though. Why is it so common? If you asked someone "what do you think of brandy?" they would never say, "I like it really well," they would say "I like it a lot". Therefore isn't liking a question of quantity and not quality?

If it were about quality it would mean something different, right? For example, an alcohol afficionado might say they like brandy better than wild turkey, because they drink wild turkey obsessively to get drunk whereas brandy is appreciated for the taste, even though they like both of them.

Where did liking something better come from? Is that a regional thing? Do people in the south say better and north say more?

Stolen from Dictionary.com:


like
8 entries found for like.
To select an entry, click on it.
like[1,verb]like[2,noun]like[3,adjective]like[4,preposition]like[5,noun]like[6,
dverb]like[7,conjunction]like[8,verbal auxiliary]

Main Entry: 1like
Pronunciation: 'lIk
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): liked; lik·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lIcian; akin to Old English gelIc alike
transitive senses
1 chiefly dialect : to be suitable or agreeable to [I like onions but they don't like me]
2 a : to feel attraction toward or take pleasure in : ENJOY [likes baseball] b : to feel toward : REGARD [how would you like a change]
3 : to wish to have : WANT [would like a drink]
4 : to do well in [this plant likes dry soil] [my car does not like cold weather]
intransitive senses
1 dialect : APPROVE
2 : to feel inclined : CHOOSE, PREFER [leave any time you like]

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Its incorrect. You should have been taught to look for these things on the SAT II Writing tests. I remember that. You don't like vanilla more than chocolate. You like it more than you like chocolate.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
Its incorrect. You should have been taught to look for these things on the SAT II Writing tests. I remember that. You don't like vanilla more than chocolate. You like it more than you like chocolate.

What's an SAT II Writing test? I'm not a teenager so I'm assuming it's something teenagers have to take.

In your example, it would be "I like vanilla better than I like chocolate" vs "I like vanilla more than I like chocolate"