# Less vs. Fewer: Why are there two words?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 9, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238 "2009-06-09T20:02:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238/41 "2009-06-10T20:54:22Z")

</div>

No one said “fewer” wasn’t also acceptable.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238/42 "2009-06-10T20:57:36Z")

</div>

Just popping in to point out that I added the last paragraph to post #40 after Indistinguishable’s post #41.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238/43 "2009-06-10T21:02:53Z")

</div>

> [@Rucksinator](#):
>
> By changing “less” to “fewer”, I found 663.
> 
> [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=source%3A"new+york+times"+"fewer+cars"&um=1&ned=us&hl=en&scoring=a](http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=source%3A%22new+york+times%22+%22fewer+cars%22&um=1&ned=us&hl=en&scoring=a)
> 
> I think these kinds of debates are kind of pointless. You’re wrong if the majority thinks your wrong. And you’re only as wrong as the percentage of people who think you’re wrong. I could use the numbers to say that I (a person who thinks that the people who made the “one less” advertising campaign are idiots) am only 10% wrong, whereas you are 90% wrong. But what would be the point?

Huh? Language is a democracy? “Less” plus count noun is a minority form that’s also used in a major ad campaign?

I too think these kinds of debates are kind of pointless too, primarily because I’ve never met a prescriptivist who had the first idea of what languages are, how they work, and how one goes about studying them scientifically.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238/44 "2009-06-10T21:18:15Z")

</div>

> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#):
>
> Huh? Language is a democracy? …

I’d say that’s more accurate than saying that language is a dictatorship. After all, what a word means depends on what the concensus believes it to mean.

But, this is GQ, and the question has been answered.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/less-vs-fewer-why-are-there-two-words/499238.md?page=2)