Fewer. That's what you use for discrete items.
Brown paper bags are what you use for discreet items.
Hey! What a surprise! Hostile 17! Can I get you a drink, Hostile 17?
Xander ,'Dirty Girls'
Natter 65: Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, pandas, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Polter-Cow - Mar 03, 2010 11:58:44 am PST #12928 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
smonster - Mar 03, 2010 11:58:50 am PST #12929 of 30001
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
I answer with department name, my first name, and if I'm answering our customer service line, "can I help you?"
meara - Mar 03, 2010 11:59:24 am PST #12930 of 30001
Fewer than three people. People are countable.
Of course, xpost. Note from linguistics friend when she told us about this--apparently in Russian, bread is countable. As in you can have three bread (vs here you have to have loaves of bread or slices or kinds or?) I guess. Or maybe just in a less vs fewer way. Dunno.
tommyrot - Mar 03, 2010 12:01:02 pm PST #12931 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Hil R. - Mar 03, 2010 12:02:12 pm PST #12932 of 30001
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
If you'd ask "how many?" then it's "fewer." If you'd ask "how much?" then it's "less."
Daisy Jane - Mar 03, 2010 12:02:17 pm PST #12933 of 30001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
Or alien face-sucker. Whichever.
Matt the Bruins fan - Mar 03, 2010 12:03:24 pm PST #12934 of 30001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I answer "Hello, this is Matt" when someone transfers a call to me at work, and "[company name], may I help you?" when I answer directly.
tommyrot - Mar 03, 2010 12:03:32 pm PST #12935 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Or alien face-sucker. Whichever.
Yeah, that was my thought.
Also, Baby + Alien Face Hugger = Tiny, Cute Chest Burster!
§ ita § - Mar 03, 2010 12:03:41 pm PST #12936 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Fewer than is what I thought (the con call line says "less than"), but as I started getting thinky, I'm mentally rewriting it "This conference call line has < three people on it."
And it made me all confused. Because I do think like that sometimes, and I will always read that aloud as "less than three" (well, or hearts, depending).
Jesse - Mar 03, 2010 12:03:59 pm PST #12937 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Anyway, doesn't "less than three" mean love now??
(I less than three crossposts...)