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From: ins_apmj@jhunix.UUCP (Patrick M Juola)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Re: Is English decaying rapidly? (less/fewer)
Message-ID: <1115@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Nov-85 23:36:48 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.1115
Posted: Wed Nov  6 23:36:48 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Nov-85 10:15:01 EST
References: <1427@cae780.UUCP> <10600197@uiucdcs> <197@bnrmtv.UUCP> <1044@jhunix.UUCP> <185@opus.UUCP> <433@mot.UUCP>
Reply-To: ins_apmj@jhunix.ARPA (Patrick M Juola)
Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ. Computing Ctr.
Lines: 26
Keywords: less,fewer, English
Summary: AAAUUUGHHH!

In article <433@mot.UUCP> al@mot.UUCP (Al Filipski) writes:
>> 
>> Yes, it IS a mistake.
>> The difference between "less" and "fewer" is that "less" refers to a
>> measure of a continuous quantity while "fewer" refers to a smaller number
>> of discrete objects.
> 
>This seems like an overly pedantic and outmoded distinction.  Should we 
>then also read "n < 5" as "n is fewer than 5" instead of "n is less than 5"?
                                                                           
>>> AAARRRGGHHHHH.  We just found another one.
(Sorry about not citing the previous line, but I don't know who wrote it.)

Anyway, Al, first of all, let's discuss what numbers are -- I'm not really sure
what you consider to be 'continuous,' but *I* at least consider the real numbersto be a (almost by definition) continuous.  If n refered only to integers, then
there could be a case for referring to 'fewer than 5,' but without context, 
anyone would assume that a given variable refers to a real number.

Second, OF COURSE this is an outmoded and pedantic discussion -- what we
are discussing here is the decline of the Queen's English; the Queen to whom
I refer being, of course, Victoria.  The original complaint was that too many
distinctions are being blurred, such as the less/fewer distinction, the "I
couldn't care less" fallacy, and so forth.
						Pat Juola
						Johns Hopkins Univ.
						Dept of Maths