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Re: precedence for ReplaceAll?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg110769] Re: precedence for ReplaceAll?
• From: AES <siegman at stanford.edu>
• Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 06:03:45 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <i0pc4f$jtj$1@smc.vnet.net>

Well, just so both Harvard and MIT graduates can do right in the future, 
here's what the dictionary that comes with Mac OS X says:

USAGE  Fewer versus less: 

Strictly speaking, the rule is that fewer, the comparative form of few, 
is used with words denoting people or countable things (: fewer members; 
| fewer books; | fewer than ten contestants). 

Less, on the other hand, is used with mass nouns, denoting things that 
cannot be counted ( | less money; | less music). In addition, less is 
normally used with numbers ( | less than 10,000) and with expressions of 
measurement or time ( | less than two weeks; | less than four miles 
away). 

But to use less with count nouns, as in | less people or | less words, 
is incorrect in standard English.


[The rules of correct English are apparently nearly as complex, arcane, 
and inconsistent as those of correct Mathematica.]