Is "this is different than before" valid US English for "this is different from before"?

Asked Feb 02 '20 at 11:48

Active Oct 03 '22 at 22:10

Viewed 1,346 times

I have many times heard James Rolfe and Mike Matei (the video content producers), who I believe both grew up in New Jersey or in the city Pennsylvania, say things such as:

Blablabla. This is different than before. Blablabla.

Every time, it seems to me, a non-native English speaker, as if they should be saying "from" instead of "than". I'm pretty sure it's not valid formal British English at least, but I don't know about US English.

Maybe it's not even valid formal US English, but valid "talk speech"? Maybe it's even local slang in New Jersey or "Philly"?

asked Feb 02 '20 at 11:48

Donald Scott

2

Most Americans seem to have no qualms with this, if they're not pedants. In British English we tend to say 'different to' rather than 'different than' in informal speech. – Angelos Feb 02 '20 at 12:05
3

@AeonAkechi As a speaker of British English I say "different from", never "different to". – BoldBen Feb 02 '20 at 12:28
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@BoldBen I don't use 'different to' either, but it's undeniable that it's very common here. – Angelos Feb 02 '20 at 12:31
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@AeonAkechi True, but I don't think that either "from" or "to" is predominant. Unfortunately "different than" seems to be making headway, probably as a result of US media influence. – BoldBen Feb 02 '20 at 12:57
Related: History of “different from”, “different to”, “different than” – FumbleFingers Feb 02 '20 at 13:13

Is "this is different than before" valid US English for "this is different from before"?

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