Usage notes

A common usage error is to treat the term "granular" as having a well-defined degree from fine to coarse, as in "more granular" or "less granular". Such usage is problematic for two reasons: * The essential characteristic of being granular is that something appears to be composed of small, discrete entities as opposed to being continuous or monolithic, and this is primarily a binary distinction, not a matter of degree. * The terms "more granular" and "less granular" are ambiguous: it is not clear whether they intend to indicate finer or coarser granularity. For example, granular sugar is called granular because it is composed of relatively large grains, in contrast with powdered sugar, whose grains are so small that they are not noticeable. Thus, in reference to sugar, "more granular" refers to coarser'' granularity.Corriher, Shirley O.; "The Brownie Chronicles", published in "The Elements of Chocolate", 2007. Retrieved 6-jan-2009 http://acselementsofchocolate.typepad.com/elements_of_chocolate/ACSBrownieChronicles.html Similarly, if a photograph is grainier or "more granular", it means that the grain particles are larger (coarser) and thus more distinctly visible.Multimedia Commons Scanning; University of Southern California. Retrieved 6-Jan-2009 http://www.usc.edu/libraries/locations/leavey/tutorials/assets/scanning.pdf On the other hand, "more granular" is sometimes used in exactly the opposite way: to indicate ''finer , more plentiful grains or divisions.Foley, Mary Jo; "Microsoft to roll out more granular 'porn mode' with IE 8", ZDNet.com, 25-Aug-2008. Retrieved 6-Jan-2009 http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1550 This usage error can be avoided by referring specifically to finer'' or ''coarser granularity.