L

Less vs. Fewer

A made up rule by author Robert Baker in 1770 who made the claim:

[Less] is most commonly used in speaking of a number; where I should think "fewer" would do better. "No fewer than a Hundred" appears to me not only more elegant than "No less than a Hundred" but more strictly proper.

This is another attempt "to make English more like Latin" and note the author's appeal to "appears to me ... more elegant". The word "less" has been used for over a thousand years to refer to both countable and non-countable items. For example, both "10 items or less" and "10 items or fewer" are correct. The only exception to this rule is when there is ambiguity:

• Do you have less talented musicians?
  (Musicians who have little talent)

• Do you have fewer talented musicians?
  (A smaller number of talented musicians)

However, there are some phrases where using "less" can sound far more natural then using "fewer". For example: "Do you have more or less?" versus "Do you have more or fewer?".