From time to time, people complain about our t-shirts that say "One Less Car" — complaining not about the message, or the logic, but the grammar.

"It should be One Fewer Car, or One Car Fewer" they insist. And I used to insist the same thing, as the grammar nanny would argue that less should be used for quantity, and fewer for number. (Read this post at Skyline Velo).

But research into both Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage and Webster's Third New International Dictionary confirms that our t-shirt phrase is correct English usage.

Less has been used with quantities since the 9th Century. And Webster's Third leads its definitions with "of a more limited number: FEWER" and provides three examples of less being used for numbers.

One other remainder in my brain, but not immediately found on the internet (except here, which discusses the distinction of count v. mass nouns), is that less is acceptable for items that number one. That is, a person can use either "one less" or "one fewer", but should use two, three, or four fewer.

Finally, while grammarians argue about whether common usage is by definition acceptable, and I'm usually on the side of the rule-folks instead of the that's-how-people-(ab)use-the-term folks, I would note that it's clear to marketers that "One Less Car" is easier to say, design around, and use than "One Fewer Car."

Next week: myriad musings about misused apostrophes.

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