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From: tainter@ihlpg.UUCP (Tainter)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Re: Is English decaying rapidly? (less/fewer)
Message-ID: <1512@ihlpg.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Dec-85 12:12:56 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1512
Posted: Tue Dec 31 12:12:56 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 1-Jan-86 01:03:24 EST
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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> > > >say "x items or less" rather than "x items or FEWER".
> > > That is shorthand for "X items or less than X items". It isn't 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"?

Only if n is an integer. :-)