> Prescriptivists demand a difference between less and fewer. Those poor fools have lost! Yes, I agree it's a lost battle. I also don't generally prescribe. Bu

> Prescriptivists demand a difference between less and fewer. Those poor fools have lost! Yes, I agree it's a lost battle. I also don't generally prescribe. But I make an exception for this and a handful of other usages, with the understanding that I can't tell people they're wrong -- which, if you noticed, I didn't do. I instead give both definitions and invite the recipient to choose between them. My other recent pet peeve are the many people who say "reign in" when they mean "rein in". Reigning is what a monarch does to a kingdom, reining is what a cowboy does to a horse. But these are annoyances, not a matter of right versus wrong.