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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that grammar matters and to ring Tesco to berate them for their "Same luxury, less lorries" sticker on my loo roll?

161 replies

SmiteYouWithThunderbolts · 29/09/2013 09:31

As the title says really... As if "10 Items or Less" wasn't infuriating enough, Tesco have now extended this to proudly proclaiming that they use LESS lorries to transport their packs of loo roll.

I would like to ring them just to scream the word "FEWER" down the phone at them.

It does matter, doesn't it? Ok, so perhaps in forums and private emails it matters less if there are a handful of errors here and there, but on advertising and packaging from a national supermarket chain, AIBU to expect them to at least use the correct words?

Did that bit of packaging really make it through every level of their massive marketing department without a single person pointing out the erroneous use of "less"? Or was it a conscious decision because... well... Nope, I cannot fathom the logic of why anyone would knowingly use the wrong word.

This actually made me cross enough to take a photo of the offending item and tweet it to Tesco. That was maybe slightly U of me. Blush

OP posts:
DropYourSword · 29/09/2013 14:22

^HalfSpamHalfBrisket:
From the revised EYFS curriculum:
Numeracy: "Uses the language of ‘more’ and ‘fewer’ to compare two sets of objects."^

Why more and not greater then?

No wonder it's so confusing!

amicissimma · 29/09/2013 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 14:22

Neun-yes we did, I'm sure we did, getting confused now, it was years agoGrin

You wouldn't say less numbers, would you? It's fewer numbers.

ConfusedHmmGrin

CecilyP · 29/09/2013 14:22

Fanny, when I was a TA we used 2 is fewer than 3.

That just sound wrong to me; you might say 2 items is fewer than 3 items, but never 2 is fewer than 3.

neunundneunzigluftballons · 29/09/2013 14:23

Greater than and more than are both used but I have only ever heard less than being used.

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 14:23

Oh actually 'greater than' is ringing bells...

ohmymimi · 29/09/2013 14:23

Neun - time, distance and money are also treated differently re 'less', but the easiest way to remember correct usage in general terms is 'fewer' for countable items. I don't think anyone on here is claiming to be the fount of all gramatical knowledge.

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 14:25

Cecily- the teacher made a point of making sure we said fewer rather than less. I want about to argue with the old dragon

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 14:25

Oh-yes, fewer is for countable nouns.

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 14:30

Wasn't

neunundneunzigluftballons · 29/09/2013 14:35

Ohmymini everything is countable in maths and your rule does not apply
www.rapidtables.com/math/symbols/Basic_Math_Symbols.htm the less than symbol is shown. From a historical grammar point of view and a common usage point of view I believe Tesco have the upper hand here.

Crowler · 29/09/2013 14:56

neunundneunzigluftballons, would this be correct in the context of a math problem?

There are four piles of coins. Pile one has one less coin than pile two...

And so on?

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 15:18

Less coin? That is wronger than a wrong thing on wrong Tuesday !

Crowler · 29/09/2013 15:43

OK, I may be not relaying this well. How about four less coins? Seems wrong, right?

My son's math teacher does this ALL THE TIME and I'm tempted to write a note on the math worksheet but don't want to be caught being pedantic AND wrong. Surely a bad combination. The mention of a math exception to the rule is giving me pause.

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 15:47

No still incorrect. Less money, fewer coins.

If you asked in pedants' corner they'd tell you if it's correct. I'm too scared to post in there Wink

Crowler · 29/09/2013 15:55

Valiumredhead, I agree it's grammatically incorrect. I was hoping that the person who mentioned a math exception could illuminate.

neunundneunzigluftballons · 29/09/2013 15:58

Solve h(x) is less than or equal to 0 if h(x) = 2x3 - x2 -3x
Solving cubic equations could relate to numbers of raccoons or macaroons mathematicians don't care but we define the domain and range using more than and less than or equals to. You want pedants talk to mathematicians.

ohmymimi · 29/09/2013 16:02

Neun- didn't think I was getting drawn into the world of quantitative linguistics. Clever cloggery is not my thing. Byee.

neunundneunzigluftballons · 29/09/2013 16:33

The example was not intended as clever cloggery it was just to give an indication of the type of context the term less than is used on the extremely large platform that is the English speaking world's mathematical usage. It was supposed to counter the assertion up thread that although historically it was correct to use it, that is no longer the case as it is not widely used. Crowler your son is using correct mathematical terminology IMHO.

Catsize · 29/09/2013 16:39

OP, please complain. It is jolly bad indeed. Children learn by example.
When learning French, I got my 'ne' and 'pas' in the right place thanks to Kylie Minogue's 'Je ne sais pas pourquoi'. I went on to study law in France.
Signs matter too.
My local supermarket had huuuuuuuge signs above the clothing department to show where 'childrens', 'mens' and 'ladies' clothing were. Aaaagggghhh!
They had an accent over the 'e' in CAFE, which shouldn't have been there because it was in capitals.
I often see these things and think I will write, but never do too much time on Mumsnet instead.
Another thing, why do we 'pre-order' nowadays? Isn't it just 'order'?
And is there really a Pedants' Corner? Not a Pedant's or a Pedants of course. Smile

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 17:14

Cat-was I wrong with my apostrophe?Shock

valiumredhead · 29/09/2013 17:15

Just checked,I was right. PhewGrin

Catsize · 29/09/2013 17:31

No, you were right. Wasn't suggesting otherwise. Assuming you are not alone in said corner. Smile

ivykaty44 · 29/09/2013 17:35

all these stores seem to have "baby changing facilities" and that really annoys me, as it should be nappy changing facilities.

FredFredGeorge · 29/09/2013 17:54

Catsize French has a prescriptive grammar though, English doesn't...

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