To tell you that it's "rein" not "reign".

[FlyingElbows]

Because it is and it's doing my tits in!!

Rein. Rein. Rein. Rein. Rein.

Free rein. It's an equestrian term meaning to give the horse freedom of movement.

It is NOT reign. That's what the Queen does.

It's right up there with "intensive purposes" and "doggy dog world"!!

It suffices that fewer is correct, and less is not wrong.

Succinctly put!

So at the supermarket the aisle ought to say 10 items or fewer or Less shopping than will fit in a basket or something like that to avoid irritating the fuck out of me & all the other pedants

The news of Andrew Sachs' death has prompted another - Que? I had a very confusing online conversation with someone who put Kay? I interpreted that as Okay?, but it was supposed to mean WTF?

No Fury, at the supermarket the sign may say either "10 items or less" or "10 items or fewer" because both are correct. Pedants who find this irritating need to take their pedantry to the next level and learn a little beyond the grammar you were taught at primary school.

essentially whatever the sign at the supermarket says, less or fewer, (and they all say less, except for M and S which used to say fewer but now says less both are correct as 'less' is what people say and understand. therefore it is correct.

Speaking as an ex pedant.

But but but... we only use 'less' when numbers are involved when it's a measurement. Like 10 meters, or 5 minutes. So the thing we're talking about is a solid block, a 10-metre block, so one can only have 'less'.

When it comes to items, which is what the supermarket signs are saying, they are most definitely countable, and thus most definitely 'fewer'. If it didn't state the word 'items' in the sign, it would be more ambitious.

yes but what I am saying Herbaceous, is that it doesnt matter.
There is no authority that says this or that is correct or not, is there?
Our grammar is descriptive not prescriptive.
This is a major strength of English..:)

But by that logic if we let things like this go, then before we know it 'impact' will officially be a verb, people will be allowed to say 'could of', and 'pacifically'. Next stop: decline of civilisation.

There is a big difference between 'less fish' and 'fewer fish' and which one you use might well depend on whether you are describing your plate of food, or the contents of the pond in your garden.

herbaceous...this is true...but what can we do?

Nooooooooooo!

10 items or less is honestly fine, even if being prescriptive. Could of is wrong.

'could of is wrong' ,,,yes but who says? If enough people say it, then it becomes correct.

Not on my watch Brat !

Yes that's true Brat but I don't think we are there.

My argument is that 10 items or less is fine regardless and that people who get their knickers in a twist about are wrong. It's a hypercorrection - like saying "The house belongs to DH and I".

Had heated discussion with friend re 'bare with me' v 'bear with me'......I don't think we ever got to the bottom of it

I fine bear and bare difficult. I avoid using either unless I am able to check!

I know the animal is a bear. I know it's bare if you've got nothing on. But for some reason I have a mental block about the right to bear/ bare arms use.

And "I can't bear/bare it".

But splendid, "The house belongs to DH and I" is plain wrong, not a hyper-correction. It uses the subject pronoun of 'I' rather than the object pronoun of 'me'. It would be like saying "the house belongs to DS and he".

The less/fewer pedantry is perhaps more akin to objecting to split infinitives. There's nothing wrong with it and it can sound better.

It's odd that people get confused between 'less' and 'fewer', but not between 'much' and 'many'. Which is similar.

Yes Herb, it's wrong but people make the mistake because they think they are obeying the rules. That's what a hyper correction is. Similarly it is wrong to correct "less" to "fewer" on a supermarket sign.

I'm getting too cross that it is hampering my ability to form an argument. I shall come back later!

blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/less-or-fewer/

Sorry I know I am terrible at explaining this stuff. The link above might help.

How can people think the word is "reign"? Why don't they take a minute to THINK about it? It is a riding metaphor and has nothing to do with royalty.

Re the OP.