Recently I’ve started to think that these and other similar battles are lost.
It just feels so petty. Not a single person reading “less cops” was confused by its meaning. I get fighting against misuse of your/you’re, its/it’s, etc. because they can make things harder to read. Fewer and less, though, have the exact same underlying meaning (a reduction).
I’m something of a grammar Nazi, but just like I support letting “whom” die, “less” and “fewer” might as well just be interchangeable. There’s no loss of language utility in doing so, unlike “literally”'s tragic demise.
Literally has been used for emphasis, hyperbole, and metaphor since at least the late 18th century.
Me trying to get people to say they “are doing well” not “doing good” when asked “how are you doing?”
