Fewer and fewer people are using the word fewer when talking about countable nouns. Instead they use the word less, in ways that seem incorrect. For example, one television station advertises that they have “less commercialsâ€. I find myself shouting “fewer†at the television and radio. Should I continue to reinforce this rule with my children, or just accept that it is something I should get used to as part of our evolving language?
This might be the time to try to convey to the children the difference between correct and accepted usage and how to choose one over the other. I personally prefer to use the most technically correct language possible when writing but my spoken language is usually quite a bit more, shall we say, comfortable. Contractions, for instance, issue from my mouth but not from my pen. One thing to be careful about, though, my high school English teacher got me into the habit of using the Latin pronunciation of "err", which can sometimes be awkward.
lesliep said:
Fewer and fewer people are using the word fewer when talking about countable nouns. Instead they use the word less, in ways that seem incorrect. For example, one television station advertises that they have “less commercialsâ€. I find myself shouting “fewer†at the television and radio. Should I continue to reinforce this rule with my children, or just accept that it is something I should get used to as part of our evolving language?
I don't battle too hard for "fewer" instead of "less," because using the latter isn't likely to result in ambiguity or misunderstood meaning. I do point out the difference between the two, however, and let my audience make an informed choice.
It is disgusting, though, how ungrammatical and imprecise news media are. For example, the reporters who announce that a person was killed "after an automobile accident" today, as though the poor soul clambered from his wrecked vehicle and was shot in the head by a passerby. That's the sort of thing that makes you doubt the brainpower of the reporter.
Lemastre said:
lesliep said:
Fewer and fewer people are using the word fewer when talking about countable nouns. Instead they use the word less, in ways that seem incorrect. For example, one television station advertises that they have “less commercialsâ€. I find myself shouting “fewer†at the television and radio. Should I continue to reinforce this rule with my children, or just accept that it is something I should get used to as part of our evolving language?
I don't battle too hard for "fewer" instead of "less," because using the latter isn't likely to result in ambiguity or misunderstood meaning. I do point out the difference between the two, however, and let my audience make an informed choice.
It is disgusting, though, how ungrammatical and imprecise news media are. For example, the reporters who announce that a person was killed "after an automobile accident" today, as though the poor soul clambered from his wrecked vehicle and was shot in the head by a passerby. That's the sort of thing that makes you doubt the brainpower of the reporter.
It's what Merriam-Webster has now begun referring to as "the ignorant abuse of the language", bless her.
Yep - costly haircut but brain akin to a walnut. (Glossy reporter, not MW.)
For what it's worth, I taught MY kids the difference between "less" and "fewer". Almost all immigrants know it, after all, so shouldn't my children?
Lemastre, my current complaint about public writers (not only the news media but advertisers as well) is about percentages. "Buy now and get 250% more!", they adjure me, and I wouldn't mind if I weren't almost sure they meant I'd get 25 for the price of 10. Even worse is their promise that I can get my computer to do a task in 200% less time. It might be sensible to say that I can get something to happen 30% faster...but how can I be sure the writer knows what it means? Sigh.