I couldn’t care fewer.
@cdf12345 if you really want to infuriate people that should be "I could care fewer."
Bastard stole my line
[malix@derp ~]$ fewer .bashrc
bash: fewer: command not found
:(
$alias fewer = 'less'
-bash: fewer: command not found
$ alias fewer=less
$ which fewer
fewer: aliased to less
Your post is fewer than 60 minutes old.
Arguably, that is correct: "minute" is a countable noun, so should take "fewer" as a modifier.
Yeah it is grammatically correct but most people would say "less than 5 minutes ago" or "less than 50 seconds", instead of using "fewer than".
I couldn't give fewer of a shit
I'm also a non-native speaker and I've also been taught to speak a certain way ("you and I are going" but "he saw you and me"; don't split infinitives; don't end sentences with prepositions, etc.), but then I read Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and - even more relevant here - The Sense of Style. We've been taught to use language a certain way, but our teachers were following the prescriptivist school of thought. You say these rules were written by native folk, but it's often (if not usually) the native folk that say less when they "should" be saying fewer.
I know you said it's only mildly infuriating to you, but if proper use of language is something dear to your heart (as it is to mine) - I really recommend the above books as I think this is something not worth to get even mildly infuriated about. The border between less and fewer is fuzzier than you think and - in the words of Pinker - once you really master the distinction - that's one fewer thing for you to worry about.
Edit: typo
I have used less several times when I should have used more...
when people write should of instead of should have
I've corrected people a few times on this, but then I looked it up, and from what I understand, since language is defined by usage, saying "less" when technically it should be "fewer" is still generally correct. It still sounds alright to me, though oddly the reverse (using "fewer" when it should be "less") sounds fewer (aka less) correct to me.
I’m a linguist and this is the answer. The correct usage is however people use it, not how a book editor, dictionary, or your third grade teacher think it should be used.
Example: “there’s” for both plural and singular rather than “there are” versus “there’s/there is”.
Sorry, I'll do that fewer.
Bash says that the fewer
command can't be found...
less
is more
, though!
bash: fewer: command not found
People thinking the English language is static and has to follow rules.
This Is English, my friend. The top dog of non-proscriptive languages where meanings change over time and reflect current usage.
Want to force everyone to follow the rules?
Start speaking French.
It is also a tool to allow common understanding between a diverse group of people. I’m not saying that less/fewer is an important rule. However ‘anything goes’ is going to have an impact on people’s understanding of bothe you and your message
I'm not saying anything goes either but if people around you use less and fewer interchangeably, there is no communication breakdown at all.
Do you know the correct times to use practice vs practise?
So what you're saying is we need to use 'less' fewer?
I've tried more instead of less, I will have to try fewer and see how it works, which repo is fewer on?
The thing I find interesting is how the mixing of less and fewer, is broadly accepted, whereas nobody tends to use ‘much’ and ‘many’ interchangeably.
I’m not quite sure why much/many is do conserved when fewer/less isn’t.
Hmmm - maybe I should be using "fewer" less times than I should be using "less" fewer times...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
common usage is not the enemy
Confusion is the enemy of communication. Clarity of language is critical to being understood. Correctly using "fewer" and "less" could theoretically provide context clues about what type of thing you're counting, but you will be understood irregardless of which word you choose to use.
Ok so, as a native English speaker, let me inform you, that whatever you think is a rule in English, isn't. It's a guideline. It's a hard language because we lack structure. The native teachers are teaching you the basic guidelines, not actual conversational English, which varies heavily on location, and social group.
Less people should be using “less” instead of “fewer”. 😜
No link, no AUR and hard to google, thanks.
edit: the joke fell flat, because with how modern replacements often are named, fewer could easily have been a modern less.
I'm doing good.
Well, you bastard. You're doing well!!!
Same. It's like a tic, I'm compelled to mutter "fewer" in my mind, or else I can't keep paying attention
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