Why does it matter if we make less mistakes?

So, Tesco has finally bowed to those who insisted they change their '10 items or less' signs. And, pedantic as it seems, I'm delighted.

Of course, no one was confused by these signs. Their meaning was obvious, and you could argue that the new ones, saying 'Up to 10 items', are minutely less clear. Where's the cut-off? At nine or ten?

So why does it matter which we use: less or fewer? It matters because sometimes things aren't as clear as a Tesco sign.

The other day, someone was telling me some fact or other about a nearby area. I can't even remember what, but it involved the phrase, 'because there are less affluent families there'.

What she meant was, 'There are fewer affluent families there.' Not that the families there were less affluent. It's subtle, but it makes quite a big difference. If she'd been in the habit of using less and fewer correctly, she wouldn't even have had to think about it, any more than she'd think about whether to say I am or I is. And she'd have said what she wanted to say.


Less money (an amount of something, like gravy or sunlight).


Fewer coins (individual things you can count, like stones or widgets).

When language is used badly in the public realm, as in Tesco stores, the mistakes take on a certain authority. They become more embedded in the collective consciousness. We stop caring so much about silly, pedantic points like less vs fewer. And our language becomes a little more blurred, a little less clear. We're less able to say what we actually mean.

That's why it matters. Not because The Rules Say So. (Indeed, anyone searching for a clear rulebook on English will have a long and frustrating quest.) But because it sacrifices clarity. It might not matter at the checkout, but when you go to a job interview, or want to write to your MP, or just tell someone something interesting, you might find it matters a great deal.

(I have to add that it's a shame to read Marie Clair of the Plain English Campaign quoted as saying some people get 'really roused up' by the misuse of less and fewer. What a startlingly ugly bit of English.)