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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (2842)6/10/1999 11:44:00 PM
From: The Philosopher  Read Replies (1) of 4711
 
I don't have the full OED, so I can't cite the 1644 usage it is reported to include for different than.

New Fowler suggests the benefits in, e.g., Joyce Cary "I was a very different man in 1935 from what I was in 1916," suggesting it would improve by being recast as "than I was in 1916" or even "than in 1916." NF also offers "The American theatre, which is suffering from a different malaise than ours.." as far preferable to "which is suffering from a different malaise from that which ours is suffering from."

Harpers offers "Please inform us if your address is different than it was in the past," though I would have just said "please advise us if your address has changed."

I go further. I frankly prefer "her dress is different than mine" to "her dress is different from mine."

Different to is primarily British, and is seldom seen in American writers. If you make a habit of reading English writers, though, you will run across it.
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