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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

EDIT: you guys have dug up some truly horrible pisstakes :D Thank you for those.

To the serious folk - relax a little. This is Mildly Infuriating, not I'm dying if this doesn't stop. As a non-native speaker I was taught a certain way to use the language. The rules were not written down by me, nor the teachers - it was done by the native folk. Peace!

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[-] [email protected] 97 points 4 months ago
[-] [email protected] 50 points 4 months ago

@cdf12345 if you really want to infuriate people that should be "I could care fewer."

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Bastard stole my line

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[-] [email protected] 89 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)
[malix@derp ~]$ fewer .bashrc 
bash: fewer: command not found

:(

[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

$alias fewer = 'less'

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[-] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago
-bash: fewer: command not found
[-] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)
$ alias fewer=less
$ which fewer
fewer: aliased to less
[-] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago

Your post is fewer than 60 minutes old.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Arguably, that is correct: "minute" is a countable noun, so should take "fewer" as a modifier.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

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".

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[-] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago

I couldn't give fewer of a shit

[-] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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

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[-] stoy 20 points 4 months ago

I have used less several times when I should have used more...

[-] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

when people write should of instead of should have

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[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

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.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

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”.

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[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Bash says that the fewer command can't be found...

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

less is more, though!

[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Sorry, I'll do that fewer.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

bash: fewer: command not found

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[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

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

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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?

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

So what you're saying is we need to use 'less' fewer?

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

I've tried more instead of less, I will have to try fewer and see how it works, which repo is fewer on?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

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.

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Hmmm - maybe I should be using "fewer" less times than I should be using "less" fewer times...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

common usage is not the enemy

[-] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

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.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

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.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Less people should be using “less” instead of “fewer”. 😜

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Same. It's like a tic, I'm compelled to mutter "fewer" in my mind, or else I can't keep paying attention

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago
[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Well, you bastard. You're doing well!!!

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this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
167 points (86.1% liked)

Mildly Infuriating

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