"One less thing to worry about"

[UnquietDad]

It should be "one fewer", surely, according to The Rules? Things are countable. But that just sounds wrong.

Trying to think of similar expressions.

Innit tho.

'One thing fewer' sounds a bit better than 'one fewer thing'. I think its the inclusion of the 'one' in that expression that jars. 'If that happened, I'd have fewer things to worry about' sounds fine I think, not quite sure why though

Well, 7 is one less than 8, so "one less thing" does in my opinion pass muster. But "less things" woulnd't.

That's "wouldn't".

it's messy this one.

i would be inclined to say fewer is correct, with the noun going first (one thing fewer to worry about)

but i've just been googling and several grammar sites and opinions seem to disagree.

looks like it could be either, then.

(i know if it's a fraction then it's less (less than 1/3) but i'm not sure where one sits in the argument.

The phrase should be "I couldn't care less". Perhaps Americans think it's energy-saving to leave out a few letters.

I love Pedants' Corner.

maybe they don't want to offend anyone, so by saying they could care less, means that although they really don't care about this particular thing, there are things that they would care less for.

or "i could care less, but i don't want to, so i'm not going to"

i'm not defending it, though.

i love pedants' corner too