Random Thread - Anything Goes
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@nadnerB Ivory straws should only be used to drink the tears of a PETA member.
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@RojoLoco said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@nadnerB Ivory straws should only be used to drink the tears of a PETA member.
And be made from repurposed from Piano parts.
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Howard The Duck
“The story has no center; the duck is not likable, and the costly, overwrought, laser-filled special effects that conclude the movie are less impressive than a sparkler on a birthday cake. George ‘Star Wars’ Lucas supervised the production of this film, and maybe it’s time he went back to making low-budget films like his best picture, ‘American Graffiti.'” — Gene Siskel, The Chicago Tribune.
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From Justin to Kelly?
“How bad is ‘From Justin to Kelly?’ Set in Miami during spring break, it’s like ‘Grease: The Next Generation’ acted out by the food-court staff at SeaWorld.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.
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This should go on a bathroom wall.
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Fewer
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/youtube-rewind-14.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=600
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@mlnews said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Fewer
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/youtube-rewind-14.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=600
Assuming you're talking about less vs fewer, if so you're breaking the rule, and if not then who cares I am going to keep going anyway!
That's just a nonsensical grammar rule like "no split infinitives" that disregards history and instead promotes the opinion of a single person as absolute fact, when they themselves had little understanding of their own language. Less, originally spelled læs has been used since at least the 9th century in all context that both less and fewer are now used. Fewer originated later in the 14th century as an extension of "few" which just meant "a little bit" or "small amount" of whatever, which is a meaning it still obviously has.
So this is a situation where a wanna-be know-it-all named Robert Baker in 1769/1770, much like Samuel Johnson but so unnotable he doesn't even have a Wikipedia article, wrote in his book Reflections on the English Language (page 47) that: "This word is most commonly used in speaking of a number; where I should think Fewer would do better. No fewer than a Hundred appears to me not only more elegant than No less than a Hundred, but more strictly proper."
Or in other words "Nobody actually speaks this way, I think they should" and since that time most people still say "less" just as they did then. Others follow a rule made up by someone who pulled it out of his butt, much like the most strict "rules" of English, they are nonsensical and nobody actually speaks that way without hypercorrection, which is counter to natural language.
Even so, hardcore hypercorrectors often break this rule all the time without thinking about it by saying "at least X" rather than "at fewest X", so have you seen Star Wars at least 10 times? No, you saw it at fewest 10 times! Sounds wonderful, natural, and correct doesn't it? Much like "Boldly to go where no man has gone before", which is following the "no split infinitive" rule.
No who is the know-it-all, Robert?!
