I am a white person. One things that white people like is grammar.
Here’s something that bothers the hell out of white-people who love grammar:
When discussing non-specific nouns (“water”, “information”, “love”), the correct term to denote a comparative minor is “less”. When discussing things of a countable nature (“wrinkles”, “cigarettes”, “dancing bears”), one should use “fewer”.
So, let me ask, can wrinkles be counted? Oil of Olay ads lead me to believe yes, ergo the proper use is fewer, not less.
Philistines.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
the social bobcat’s white grammar rage meter is off the charts right now
americans read left to right - shouldn’t the before picture come first (i.e. left)?
and i’m sorry oil of olay, there’s no way your product is turning the sun-ripened Native American grandmother on the right into Eva Gabor or whoever is that lady on the left. (oh god: is it whoever or whomever, noooooooooo)
May 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Bobcat:
Here’s my read on your question. Your sentence construction may be confusing the issue.
On the one hand it would be correct to say:
“she is turning into whom?” OR
“into whom is she turning?”
“Why, she is turning into Eva Gabor or whoever”
Your sentence, after the “or” is effectively operating independent of that clause.
You’re next really asking:
“Who is that lady on the left?” OR
“That lady on the left, who is she?”
“Why that lady is Eva Gabor, or whoever”.
“Eva Gabor or whoever is she who is the lady on the left”
Confirming that Who matches She matches “Eva Gabor” and thus “WHOever”
Perhaps the whole matter would be clarified by saying:
“I’m sorry, Oil of Olay, there’s no way your product is turning the sun-ripened NA grandmother on the right into Eva Gabor, or whoever that lady on the left is!”
A way I remember it is when you’re talking about a person as a noun ( nominative case ) use He/She/Who, all others, especially when near prepositions, use him/her/whom.
Doubtless you latin paves the way.
“into” takes a non-nominative case ( an oblique case ) - this requires a relative pronoun in either the ablative or accusative case. In English both of those would take “whom”.
I applaud your whiteness in commenting such, amice sapientissime.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
i hear ya friend
i typically remember it by thinking
“Who is responsible for this mess?’ (he / she / it is responsible)
“leadership duties of this ragtag group will be assumed by whom during our dear leader’s absence ?” (duties will be assumed by him / her )
but that is the noun / preposition example you noted above
but above all, the less / fewer confusion is one of my whitest grammar annoyances, even above it’s / its and they’re / their / there
May 29th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
For as long as English has been written down, “less” has been used with count nouns.
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003775.html