With fewer mistakes, reading will be less aggravating

From an article on health insurance coverage in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, quoting Highmark’s CEO:

But “we will have less products in the market overall,” said David L. Holmberg, the company’s chief executive.

Good grief. When the CEO’s of the world start to confuse “less” with “fewer”, all is lost.

On behalf of all of my grade school teachers, and others who try to preserve correct grammar and usage, I plead anew: “fewer” for quantity, “less for degree.

For example —

“It is less stuffy now, since there are fewer people in the room”.

“The article is less confusing, since there are fewer contradictions”.

Grammarians of the world, unite! Let’s win this battle one sentence at a time — I will be less aggravated the fewer times I see this mistake repeated.