Random Thread - Anything Goes
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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?!
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@tonyshowoff said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
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.
Actually, most people you'd want to talk to speak this way. All language rules, in all languages, are made up by someone and then become accepted convention. But in English, correctly using less vs fewer is common and is one of the more obvious dividers between those that know how to speak and those that do not.
And it is not arbitrary.
Fewer people means a small number in head count.
Less people means a small volume, like in weight or displacement.
They aren't interchangeable unless you don't want the ability to communicate clear meaning.
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For example, elevators can take 2,000 lbs or less people. But it doesn't matter how many people are involved. It is the volume of people, not the head count, that delimits the capability of the elevator.
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@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
For example, elevators can take 2,000 lbs or less people. But it doesn't matter how many people are involved. It is the volume of people, not the head count, that delimits the capability of the elevator.
Or 1 person that weighs 2000 lbs
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