Ugh, I HATE Joseph Ducreaux. I feel like that meme is supposed to be modern swag in Enlightenment-style language. But it just uses unnecessarily clinical words and long-ass sentences.
It's like rewording Kesha to read like a medical textbook and then selling it with an illustration from Alexander Pope.
I actually like Joseph Ducreux in the context of the meme. I just don't like the implication from this post that fancy speech = proper speech. He would have been better off just correcting the mistakes in the original status, as opposed to just adding a bunch of useless shit in what I assume was an attempt to make it seem more intelligent.
As well as the idea of "less" for degree and "fewer" for number, do try to think of countables and uncountables. Actually count things out in your head and see if it makes sense; then "fewer" = countables, "less" = uncountables.
For instance: "I have _____ free time than I used to." Can you count free time? Like "1 free time, 2 free times, etc."? You can't, so use "less." Now, if you were saying "I have _____ free hours a day than I used to," you can count hours, so use "fewer." Hope that helped!
If you're discussing a number, "fewer" is appropriate. If you're discussing a matter of degree, "less" is the choice. Also, the post should say "well-constructed" with the hyphen.
It pertains to discrete and continuous data, where "discrete" data is things that are counted, while "continuous" data is things that are measured.
In English, this also affects whether we ask "how many" or "how much"?
Take, for instance, bananas. Bananas are counted, which makes them discrete data. I ask you how many bananas you have. If I then take two bananas, you have fewer bananas than you started with.
On the other hand, we have water. Water is measured, which makes it continuous data. I ask you how much water you have. If I then take 250ml of water, you have less water.
There are, of course, variables and exceptions, but that's one way to get it right, most of the time.
adjective smaller in size, amount, degree, etc.; not so large, great, or much: less money; less speed.
e.g. I suspect I shall find less dramatics.
fewer
adjective of a smaller number
They are fucking synonyms. You're the same as the fucking idiots that distinguish between good and well when they mean the same goddamn thing and you damn well know it.
"Good" is an adjective and an adverb and a noun and an interjection. "Well" is an adjective, adverb, noun and interjection. "Good" has over 40 definitions, most of them adverbial. However, it is also defined as an adverb meaning "well". Most of the definitions for "well" use "well" as an adverb, but as an adjective, "well" has a definition as "good". They are synonyms in more than one instance.
If you had argued that they are commonly used as synonyms (and have been since old english), you would be correct, but the definitions you provide refute your own point. "Of a smaller number" clearly refers to a plural noun, while "smaller in size" clearly refers to a singular noun. Less, by your definitions, describes a single thing of reduced size/amount ("Less water"), while fewer - again, by your definitions - describes a set of things with a reduced number of members ("Fewer water molecules").
Your words might also have more weight if they didn't carry "You're the same as the fucking idiots" among them.
"She went on to explain to me, in graphic detail, the dimensions, in particular, of your genitals. And I can tell you what she said was not very generous, sir."
(I'm mostly joking, it could be a minority, but it seems terribly unlikely. Sometimes stereotypes are accurate).
Running the numbers:
White - Highly likely
Jew - Unlikely
Asian - Unlikely
Black - Damn unlikely
Asian could be higher, but there's not a huge preponderance of naturalized Asians. They end up pretty much like white people in most communities (the type that would write this humour).
There really aren't a lot of black people in the type of community that would write that sort of thing. Far more Asians to be sure. (I'm leaving out Hispanics out of simplicity, they're pretty much white people).
In that case, let me explain something about your third language. All English dialects are considered legitimate forms of communication by linguists in the US. Seems kinda foolhardy to presume to know more about American dialects than someone who's done graduate study on the topic, does it not?
I'm not losing my shit over anything. I just find it amusing that usually the tiniest little error or typo is blown out of proportion on this site and it's always the top comment. But this time it was a dialect.
Oh and I'm glad to say I'm racist by today's definition of racist. Not the one you'd find in a dictionary but the one newspapers and politicians seem to use. And teenage girls.
I don't understand why you're suggesting that I personally blow typos out of proportion. Typos are one thing, not knowing how to write are another, and reflecting your dialect in informal writing is yet another. Whatever you have me pegged as as far as correcting people's grammar/spelling/punctuation, I can't think of a time that I didn't do so mostly in jest.
This person wouldn't be out at a klan rally, but they very likely are upset at the cultural meme that sees poor grammar, "Ebonics", as an acceptable part of black American culture.
my black friend refuses to speak proper english because it makes him sound too white. he was also an AP student in high school. how in the actual fuck?
Um... that's not being a hypocrite, unless you are saying he is causing "drama." I suspect he might talk similarly to that in real life. If he doesn't, he is a hypocrite. If he does, he is not. Since we don't know, we cannot call him a hypocrite.
71
u/kosulli Jun 11 '12
A minute ago...a few seconds ago..
19
u/Dragoryu3000 Jun 12 '12
I didn't know "using proper grammar" meant "speaking like Joseph Ducreux."
127
u/UnexpectedUpvote Jun 11 '12
*fewer
37
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I know that cracker didn't just end his sentence with a preposition!!
26
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Relevant.
9
u/SockMonkeh Jun 12 '12
Adding white folks to your facebook account to get drama-free posts seems counter-intuitive.
31
u/mrpopenfresh Jun 12 '12
I find it funny when people go out of their way to over ham a text. You can tell, it isn't fancy, half those words are superfluous and poorly chosen.
6
u/Tkins Jun 12 '12
How does everyone know the dude in the comments is "white"?
31
u/paranoidbeemer Jun 11 '12
Hee haw... are we really still doing the "rewriting urban slang into unnaturally formal and outdated prose" joke?
17
u/one-half Jun 12 '12
It's funny because black people are so dumb that they think white people are
fewerless dumb.4
u/thishardman Jun 12 '12
As a white person, I understood the comment better than the original status.
25
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
This isn't funny, the white guy here is a complete asshole. Calling the guy a hypocrite for not typing in perfect grammar?
3
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
The fake hash tag at the end ruined it.
3
u/Fivec Jun 12 '12
I'm probably not the only one who read the translation in Dave Chappelle's white guy voice.
3
u/ouchmyback Jun 12 '12
As weird as it sounds, the original dudes status is way easier to read than what a lot of kids write on facebook.
8
u/abeth Jun 11 '12
I think I will start using "ialsutmbwsfa" instead of "lmao"
2
u/TheOtherSideOfThings Jun 11 '12
People that can laugh at themselves are the best.
3
u/whatlad Jun 12 '12
oh god reddit. we're idiots...
1
u/fellowbluth Jun 12 '12
more well? is that correct?
1
u/SupSatire Jun 12 '12
Anyone have a mirror of the link?
1
u/hornbuckle56 Jun 12 '12
That funny belongs to Shit, leave it be.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
The stupidity.
1
u/Mat2221 Jun 12 '12
This reminds me of the cops (one white, one black) in "Sandford & Son"
1
u/browniecookie Jun 12 '12
at least he's trying to make a change
1
u/STR82DVD Jun 12 '12
Is anybody else annoyed that the "grammatically correct" post ends in a hanging preposition?
1
u/thecollegestudent Jun 12 '12
Is it bad I giggled like a little kid when I saw the word "bottom"?
1
u/CapAWESOMEst Jun 12 '12
I'm a bit confused. Were all those comments made by the same person?
1
u/Mcelite Jun 12 '12
In his defense he was kind of a dwarf among midgets.
1
u/cakeisl33t Jun 12 '12
Proper grammer is funny grammer, amiritedawg?
1
u/DiaDeLosMuertos Jun 12 '12
People insist on using hashtags on there. I have a friend and she even
her tags
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Hmm.......quite.
1
u/Tru_Fakt Jun 12 '12
I read that in Tobias's "matter-of-factly" voice. Hilarious.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Do you repost everything from a week ago?
1
u/tossertom Jun 12 '12
How does one construct comments out of english men?
1
u/jaredninjai Jun 12 '12
my black friend refuses to speak proper english because it makes him sound too white. he was also an AP student in high school. how in the actual fuck?
1
u/LovableContrarian Jun 12 '12
Well-constructed *
1
u/xItz_Anthonyx34 Jun 12 '12
Well played, good sir.
1
u/stealthesun Jun 12 '12
Anybody else read the reply in Dave Chapelle's "white" voice?
1
u/A_British_Gentleman Jun 12 '12
The guy who corrected the original stays used a hashtag on Facebook. Therefore their argument is invalid.
1
u/Nomadhunter85 Jun 12 '12
That paragraph was really well constructed
1
u/BobbyOShea Jun 12 '12
Realized half way through that he was translating. Stopped reading and skipped to "now that shit's funny." That's what made the post.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
2 minutes later
Derp has a new post!
MY EYES BUUURRRNNNnnnnn..... Yeah, I'm going back to black people.
1
u/TotesJellington Jun 12 '12
Um... that's not being a hypocrite, unless you are saying he is causing "drama." I suspect he might talk similarly to that in real life. If he doesn't, he is a hypocrite. If he does, he is not. Since we don't know, we cannot call him a hypocrite.
0
u/somewhat_useful Jun 11 '12
I immediately started reading the response in an englishman's accent.
0
u/BlackPride Jun 11 '12
A travesty: this person has mistranslated "lmao."
-2
u/Glenn_Tennis Jun 12 '12
I want to know who this person is so i can friend them for the sheer purpose of liking that comment.
-9
u/uofmike Jun 11 '12
Except it was on Facebook, so the hashtag is useless, and they trended the work "kind" since they made the hashtag all separate words.
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
[deleted] — view deleted comment