I am not annoyed, I choose one side over the other in this debate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_versus_lessYou always have authorities like dictionaries and English usage references. There are some supporting each side of this debate in the link above.
> if a substantial body of people use English in a way that you dislike then it's just tough shit I'm afraid
There is no need for that language. hn is supposed to be a place of civil (and playful) discussion. I also already anticipated that take in my post.
> If instead we prefer to attribute it to class and say using the correct or wrong way is a class signifier and that both are correct, and that language depends on usage and there are no grammar rules really but only consensus, we can also do that
> You don't speak Elizabethan English, or Regency English, or late Saxon, or Old English, but you presumably don't think those are "wrong"
Because nobody actually talks like that, that's why. Joking.
You introduced the time dimension, which complicates the comparison. If somebody claimed those are all correct ways of speaking in modern English, and only class signifiers, in that context, I would say they are wrong.
In general I dislike this nihilist "truth does not exist" nobody-is-wrong take. That is why I prefer the simple rule with countable and uncountable without the class excuse. Ultimately both takes are valid, but I find the second one too nihilist for my taste.
If people one day start saying "me thinks this good" you might find yourself changing sides arguing that truth does, in fact, exist.
You always have authorities like dictionaries and English usage references. There are some supporting each side of this debate in the link above.
> if a substantial body of people use English in a way that you dislike then it's just tough shit I'm afraid
There is no need for that language. hn is supposed to be a place of civil (and playful) discussion. I also already anticipated that take in my post.
> If instead we prefer to attribute it to class and say using the correct or wrong way is a class signifier and that both are correct, and that language depends on usage and there are no grammar rules really but only consensus, we can also do that
> You don't speak Elizabethan English, or Regency English, or late Saxon, or Old English, but you presumably don't think those are "wrong"
Because nobody actually talks like that, that's why. Joking. You introduced the time dimension, which complicates the comparison. If somebody claimed those are all correct ways of speaking in modern English, and only class signifiers, in that context, I would say they are wrong.
In general I dislike this nihilist "truth does not exist" nobody-is-wrong take. That is why I prefer the simple rule with countable and uncountable without the class excuse. Ultimately both takes are valid, but I find the second one too nihilist for my taste.
If people one day start saying "me thinks this good" you might find yourself changing sides arguing that truth does, in fact, exist.