Dare I ask? What the hell brought THAT on?
Mike Johnston wrote:
>
> Also, I'm so sorry about this, but I'm about to ramp up into schoolmaster
> mode. I do this every now and then, and I *know* it's obnoxious. I'm fully
> aware that *most* of you are smarter and better educated than I am and just
> as capable and accomplished in your own fields as I am in mine. But the
> thing is, see, I'm an editor, and in my field we work with words, and, well,
> certain things that may be invisible to you are like fingernails on a
> blackboard to me.
>
> So here goes, I'm lettin' this rip. Please ignore me at will.
>
> LESS is an amount or volume word. FEWER is a number word.
>
> You can have less water in a bucket, less brains in your head, and you could
> care less. But you have FEWER elements in a lens, ten items or FEWER in the
> Express Lane at the supermarket, FEWER than 50 ways to leave your lover.
>
> Similarly, OVER is a position word. A bridge can be over a brook, a joke can
> go right over your head, but it hasn't been OVER a hundred years since the
> Tessar was invented; it's been MORE THAN a hundred years since then.
>
> Nodoby ever get these things right (even network news anchors used "over"
> incorrectly), but it drives me crazy anyway.
>
> You may return to your regular programming...sorry again. (Most of the time,
> I'm really getting pretty good at holding my tongue.)
>
> --Mike
