Even though this time it's quite clearly a case where "fewer" is the proper choice as "cop" is most definitely a countable noun (yes, I know there are exceptions, this is generally not one.)

Bring on the downvotes.

I agree with the sentiment.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 66 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Literal grammar police.

ACAB.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 29 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The thin red line

[–] deltapi@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

? That's usually a reference to British soldiers especially during the musket era. What's it mean here?

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago

it's a joke that a lot of people copyedit or mark students' work in red pen, a pun on the thin X line, a(n arguably risible) belief that those in a particular uniform are the only thing keeping society intact.

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The squiggly line that spell check draws ~~Uber~~ under misspelled words

[–] Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 months ago

It draws under words usually, not über them

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 41 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You wanted a lecture, here you go:

You can use less for countable nouns, any of them. We've been doing it for literally centuries. In fact, it has never been used only for uncountable nouns (unlike fewer, which has generally only been used for countable nouns). Correct language is determined by what native speakers use on purpose, not what a textbook or teacher says.

At least read the Wikipedia and the dictionary if you want to keep a strong opinion about this:

However, modern linguistics has shown that idiomatic past and current usage consists of the word less with both countable nouns and uncountable nouns so that the traditional rule for the use of the word fewer stands, but not the traditional rule for the use of the word less. As Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage explains, "Less refers to quantity or amount among things that are measured and to number among things that are counted.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_versus_less

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

OK, so I'm a prescriptivist and don't agree. As mentioned in the paragraph before the one you quoted. Should we just let any old thing that slips into common usage to become the norm? Why not spell it "definately"? It's very common and everyone understands it.

I'm all for evolving language, but the fewer words we use, the less elegant it becomes. IMO of course.

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Should we just let any old thing that slips into common usage to become the norm?

Yes.

Why not spell it "definately"? It's very common and everyone understands it.

I don't think that quite meets the threshold yet, since most people who do that would still agree that it's not correct. However, it's close, and I wouldn't be against recording it as an alternative spelling.

It's a bit tangential, but English spelling is awful anyway, it bears hardly any relationship to the pronunciation, and I think it's great if it evolves to be a bit less unintuitive.

I suppose you probably do accept the existence of American spellings, even if you aren't from there? So the only difference between us is time, and how many people use a variant. Everyone is a descriptivist, some people just also think they should force their opinions on others, which is wrong. ;)

[–] millie@beehaw.org 2 points 4 months ago

Common usage the the norm are literally the same thing.

Prescriptivists act like 'the norm' is some ordained perfection and everything in their own lifetime is an aberration, but that's just temporal exceptionalism. Do you really think you just happened to be born at a time when the people writing style guides pointed at the be all the all of the English language and all advances are just corruption?

[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 35 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Hey man, do you want to be grammatically correct, or do you want to speak clearly to people who want to be a cop? Sometimes you have to make a choice.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 9 points 4 months ago

Haha! Fair enough.

[–] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Less cops --> Fewer racism

[–] WanakaTree@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Less cops

Fewer racism

Very better society

Wow!

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

no downvotes on blahaj

[–] Hildegarde@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

You can count numbers but they use < in maths. QED.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

Oh, you mean the "fewer than" symbol? (Some people do call it that.)

[–] goatbeard@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can count numbers? How many are there?

[–] Hildegarde@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

At least 7

[–] Octopus1348@lemy.lol 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can't be downvoted because this is on blåhaj.

[–] AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Does lol have downvoting? Because, for some weird federation thing, I can definitely downvote and see others having been downvoted if their instance allows downvotes. Here, have a downvote. :D

[–] ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

You can only see downvotes from people on your instance. To get to other instances, they have to go through blahaj lemmy, and it just ignores them

[–] Octopus1348@lemy.lol 2 points 4 months ago

Yes, lemy.lol has downvotes.

And no, I don't see them here.

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well when you have 81,000 gallons of cops you need less cops for sure. I think the sign is right.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

I can't tell if you made this example randomly, or were actually present for the last discussion of this exact same thing. Either way, it's pretty funny. How many gallons in your average cop? They look pretty voluminous in general.