On Mon, 22 Apr 2002, Tony Firshman wrote:
> >Well, less is more. Clive taught me that.
> ... but it is 'fewer'
>
> Amazing the way English (and American I think) has lost good English
> from Tony Blair through the BBC to schools.
>
> people, features, bricks (discreet - ie countable) - many. fewer
> sand, flour, water (not-countable) - much, less
>
> OK it is good that language evolves, but losing a subtlety of meaning
> like this using existing words in the wrong context is bad.
>
> NOT your fault Michael - you are in very good and numerous company (8-(#
Michael never said that. It was me. My grammer has never been the best, as
these sentences show ;)
Actually, it was my Mother who always said "One less is one more", and
made me sensitive to the "less is more" which even turned up in
Shakespeare some place...
My English teacher challenged me on it, and, while the subtlety is lost on
me, I defeated her with the argument that less and more are singular.
Fewer and more are plural. As the saying is a corruption of "one less is
one more", which came from a discussion of places at dinner (I *think* it
was one less (person) is one more (potato)) but the origins are hazy - and
I'm just not old enough to have been around at the time.
Still, as a Brit in Merika, 'tis my job to be quirky, like a bad cliched
stereotype of myself :)
I always knew my perfect brummie, cockney and estuary accents would come
in handy. Working on pudlian and welsh as we speak :o)
Dave
PS: I am about to release the "YALL" version of QDOS, which is in the
'suthun' accent ;)
