We've had this argument on here before
"less" can replace "fewer" but "fewer" can not replace "less". It's a modern, but acceptable usage.
( Kroney, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:00, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

Except that fewer was the correct term.
Fewer is discrete, less is continuous.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:01, Reply)

Don't start this off again
Kroney will start speaking in Old English soon.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:03, Reply)

If you have a group of people, and some leave, there are fewer people.
If you have one person and cut their leg off, there's less person. That is how it works, no exceptions, fuck Kroney and his retard ways.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:05, Reply)

I'm on your side on this one, Deddo.
But this has been debated at great length on these pages several times.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:08, Reply)

I think I love you BraynDedd.

( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 11:34, Reply)

"Was" being the operative word, I'm afraid.

( Kroney, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:05, Reply)

Look, I'm all for the English language adapting and evolving, that is the beauty of it.
What I'm not okay with is changing it to accommodate the stupid.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:08, Reply)

I didn't say I liked it, I said it was acceptable.
Using your example, it's something to do with a group of people being a crowd and so if you remove part of that crowd, there's less crowd left. Language drift, rather than lack of education.
( Kroney, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:11, Reply)

No, that would be fine under my idea of the rules too.
Less crowd, fewer people composing said crowd. The crowd is a single thing, the people are not.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:13, Reply)

Yeah, I know what you mean. For the most part I agree with you.
I'm just saying that the rules aren't as rigid as that anymore.
( Kroney, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:16, Reply)

They should be though, we make too many allowances for thickos.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:17, Reply)

They don't even teach correct spelling anymore.
Grammar's a lost hope.
( Kroney, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:18, Reply)

Which is why we are sending her to Switzerland.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 10:20, Reply)