My sister recently informed me that I have too many hills on which I intend to die

[conuly]

She's quite right, of course, and one day I'll write out a short and not at all comprehensive list of them for your amusement.

Today, though, I'll restrict myself to two, and I'll explain why when I'm done.

1. Data is a mass noun and not a count noun.

2. The "less or fewer" distinction is not a rule of traditional grammar, and whoever told you that lied to you. It's a made up zombie rule (technical term!) literally invented by some dude in the 1700s and ignored by careful, educated writers and speakers ever since.

If you're wondering why I picked those two, here's why:

If you combine them, you run the risk of referring to something or other having fewer data, and that's just... that's just wrong. It's just wrong. I'm sorry, I can't be descriptivist about this, I think it was in The New Yorker or something and it's wrong. It's all wrong.

You can't say "fewer data" and shame on you if you do it anyway.

Comments

[conuly]

Fewer has always been acceptable with count nouns and not mass nouns.

Less has always been acceptable with both count nouns and mass nouns.

But that's just me.

You and Robert Baker, 1770. And if Robert Baker, whom you've never heard of because as near as I can tell he never did anything worth talking about other than issue one single random grammar peevery decree*, had simply kept his mouth shut about his personal preferences we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.

* In fairness to him, his justification was always simply "I personally think it sounds better that way", and it's everybody else who got ridiculous over it.

[ahazelshadeofwinter]

I'm OK with using "fewer" with count nouns; the thing that will never stop driving me up a tree is when it's hypercorrected to be used with *mass* nouns. I've never seen "fewer data," but there are writers who seem convinced that "fewer" should be used with any phrase that has a number in it, even if that number is measuring a continuous quantity and not counting discrete items at all. "Fewer than five miles away"--augh!! "Fewer than fifty percent of the respondents polled"--no, you're not counting the respondents, you're measuring the proportion of them as compared to the total. I'm willing to give up "fewer" entirely if it will make this stop.