Today's Grammar Lesson

[tealin]

I heard the Gardasil commercial for the first time today. You know, the one with all the females saying 'I want to be one less!' over and over and then all yelling it at the end?

IT'S ONE FEWER! ONE FEWER!! Aaargh!

Less/Fewer is the same rule as many/much. When do you say 'how many' and when 'how much'? If you can count it, you say many – 'How many eggs?' If you can't count it, it's much – 'How much water?' You don't say 'how many water' or 'how much eggs' because you know that sounds dumb. But people swap 'less' and 'fewer' at random, even though they follow the same rule. If you can count them, it's fewer: 'I need fewer problems' – and if you can't, it's less: 'More clouds mean less sunlight.'

Is this so hard? Please tell me why this is so hard. And you can't just blame it on the '15 items or less' checkout aisle at the grocery store, that's not good enough.

Comments

[frabjous-mimes.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO MUCH! I think it shows that I'm a dedicated "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" reader that the "one less" thing bothers me even more than the fact that they're touting it as the "Cervical Cancer Vaccine" when it's not- it's a vaccine for an STD which in some cases causes cancer. But how can they be expected to get what the vaccine does right if they can't even say their catchphrase?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind it if they didn't say it over and over and over, drilling their grammatical error into my brain! Good point about the actual function of the vaccine, though I suppose mentioning STDs on TV would turn off a bunch of parents who might otherwise get their daughters vaccinated. I'm sure there was some market research in there. (Anyway, if they'd gone that far in depth, they wouldn't have been able to repeat 'one less' so many times!)

[frabjous-mimes.livejournal.com]

Oh youd be surprise'd how bad people can make there grammar even when theyv'e supposedly done they're homework...

XD Okay writing that kind of hurt a little.