Less/fewer

[Sanguine]

I am reassured that I am not the only pedant in my choral society. At the notices last night, Ticket Man got up to say "for this concert the venue is smaller, so I have less tickets to sell"

Before I could stop myself I heard myself saying (rather audibly) "fewer". I started to go red and hide, but then I realised that I had heard at least four voices at the same moment.

I think they were mainly altos. Altos are the prize witterers is both my choirs.

in

are you in my choir?
[suspicious]

actually you can't be as we always sing in the same blasted place

but I feel that spiritually we are both part of the Greater Choir

It's "less" for uncountable nouns, fewer for countable nouns, so you're right it should have been "fewer".
But I think you have to be more forgiving about mistakes in the spoken form than the written form. Sometimes correct speech sounds a bit stuck-up and pedantic doesn't it?

It's "less" for uncountable nouns, fewer for countable nouns, so you're right it should have been "fewer".
But I think you have to be more forgiving about mistakes in the spoken form than the written form. Sometimes correct speech sounds a bit stuck-up and pedantic doesn't it?

Yes, hence the blushes. It just slipped out! I think I'm getting worse. If I was someone else, I would would think I was very stuck up. IYKWIM.

Mrs B -

if the venue is smaller (and less swanky) then a paying audience may percieve the tickets as lesser- so he was unwittingly right.

my dad had a thing about 'less' and 'fewer'. it used to wind me up so much that i looked it up. dictionaries generally say that 'less' or 'fewer' can both be used with count nouns (tho' i guess not with non-count - fewer bread, anyone?) but style guides may still insist that 'less' only goes with non-count nouns.

Tigers, I agree with the spoken mistakes being easier to accomodate. I have noticed M&S has '5 items or fewer' checkouts, and the other supermarkets all use less.

Waitrose has 'fewer' too.

good !

DD1 (5) now says loudly "Mummy, shouldn't it be fewer, not less" at all supermarket checkouts bar good old Waitrose and M&S.

She has obviously picked up from me going on about it, rather than being a super-genius child