The use of “gift” as a verb is becoming alarmingly common. Why, oh why would someone say, “He gifted me with…” rather than “He gave me…” It’s not like “give” is some arcane word no one is familiar with.
I would rather see the English-speaking world use the verb “to regale”, personally. That’s just me, though. 
Harrumph! It seems to me that the argument that the terms were used interchangeably hundreds of years ago carries remarkably little weight, as does the inapt comparison to the split infinitive, which most authorities now agree is merely a pedantic anomaly. The fact is that for several hundred years a useful distinction has been drawn between “less” and “fewer,” and common usage, as well as many authorities (including the AP Stylebook), support it.
As my previous post demonstrates, I don’t favor holding to usages that are merely old or that have no practical function. In this partcular case, think a useful distinction exists. That said, I have less objection to the “incorrect” usage of “less” than of “fewer.” “I have less apples than you,” does not rankle me anywhere near as much as “We have fewer than ten minutes left to go.” (However, I would still never write the former, or allow it to pass in anything I was editing.)
Terminus: Can you cite any modern authorities who support using “less” and “fewer” interchangeably? And would you write “fewer than five miles”?
[For the record, in writing I generally try to avoid ending sentences with a preposition when an alternative is available, just because I dislike the awkward sense of imcompleteness it usually creates.]
Fair enough, but there’s nothing wrong with it from a technical standpoint. It’s just bad style.