What opinions do you have that you consider (shallow && pedantic)? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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On accident

I kind of can't take people seriously when they say On accident, I don't know or care if its more or less grammatical, it sounds like a child sputtering in my mind. It should be By accident or accidentally

Tummy

Any adult has zero business saying this lol

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[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 21 points 4 months ago

Ha! How much time have you got?

Shallow and pedantic is my speciality.

But for the sake of brevity I'll simply say that hearing (or reading) less in cases where fewer would be more appropriate is like driving an ice pick into my brain.

Yes...both are technically correct, but I have to fight the urge to be that guy whenever I hear it.

[-] sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 4 months ago

They're not interchangeable. 'Fewer' is for countable nouns and 'less' is for aggregate nouns, just like 'how many' and 'how much'.

E.g:

Aggregate:

"How much sand? Less sand."

Countable:

"How many grains of sand? Fewer grains of sand."

[-] boatswain@infosec.pub 7 points 4 months ago

Along with that, I'll add in "number" vs "amount":

A shocking number of people get this wrong (countable)
The amount of confusion about it is distressing (aggregate)

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

Oh believe me, I know. I agree.

but the argument nowadays is that common usage dictates that both are now "acceptable", similar to how apparently "literally" now effectively means "figuratively" because everyone uses it.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

We don’t have to accept it.

[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

My stupid mental trick for keeping these straight: fewer potatoes means less mashed potatoes.

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.run 1 points 4 months ago

Less could historically be used in any case and still can today. The distinction was first suggested by a guy a couple hundred years ago.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024

95 points (91.3% liked)

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