This week I have a tidbit about the word myriad and a meaty middle about run-on sentences.

I like myriad 10,000 maniacs songs.

These are days, candy everybody wants, few and far between.

And probably more that I can't think of right now.

Should I really use myriad to describe just a few songs like this?

First, the reason I'm telling you about my love for 10,000 maniacs is that the word myriad

is derived from the Greek word for 10,000.

Second, the word is long since come to have a meaning beyond just specifically 10,000.

Today it means a whole bunch, an uncountable multitude, or something within an innumerable

variety.

So it's hard to argue that myriad is a good way to describe three or four songs.

Various, a few or many would probably be better choices.

Another hot debate is whether it's correct to say Disneyland has myriad delights, or Disneyland

has a myriad of delights.

You commonly hear a myriad of, and just as commonly hear people railing that it should

be simply myriad because the word is an adjective and essentially equivalent to a number.

The argument goes like this.

You wouldn't say there are a 10,000 of delights, so you shouldn't say there are a myriad of

delights.

Believe it or not, most language experts say that either way is fine.

Myriad was actually used as a noun in English long before it was used as an adjective, and

Marian Webster says the criticism the word gets as a noun is quote recent.

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