Are there less or fewer?

[Grumpyoldhorsewoman]

Why does nobody seem to use the word 'fewer' any more, has it been retired?

As I understand it, anything which cannot be singularised is 'less' and anything that can is 'fewer' - less money, fewer coins.

It's a source of irritation that BBC news reporters (among others) will say 'less people' and I have started shouting at the TV/radio like my mother.

Have I got it wrong or is it just the general sloppiness we as a nation seem to have adopted?

(I also find myself struggling not to correct people saying 'I done that' or 'I seen this' - perhaps I have just succumbed to middle-aged pedant syndrome)

It is general sloppiness.

My mum goes "you mean fewer, not less" quite a lot. I also find myself doing it .

This is one of my biggest bugbears, along with "I should OF done that".

It's not hard to learn a rule and implement it, especially if your career involves writing!

there are fewer.
there is less.

and [boak] at I done this and I seen this.
very common down here in the Estuary
[boak][boak][boak]

HATE it! Good for M&S with their 'five items or fewer' checkout signs. I'm forever shouting 'Fewer!' at the telly and radio, and shaking my newspaper in a fury when I spot it in there.

I think in this board I have found my spiritual home...

Fewer calories, less fat. It's not difficult is it? Is it?

No, no it isn't.

Also 'exasperate the situation'.

If there is a protest apparently the number of people there is estimated according to the width of the streets and length of street that the people fill. They are not counted, they are measured like one would measure rice (rather than counting grains of rice). So in that case I would say that less is correct.

"Fewer" is on the way out.

Are there any cases in which the difference between "less" and "fewer" makes a difference to your understanding?

No, I wouldn't say the incorrect use of 'less' makes a difference to my understanding. There are more egregious grammatical crimes. But I think people should know the difference between the two and use them properly, and this is Pedants' Corner and is therefore the place to say things like that rather than in RL where people just think I'm a loon.

In the spirit of the Corner, I also think I need to apologise for arbitrarily putting in my grievance about 'exasperate the situation' out of context. It was just annoying me as I wrote.