Tesco checks out wording change | BBC News
‘The supermarket giant is to replace its current “10 items or less” notices with signs saying “Up to 10 items”.
Tesco’s move follows uncertainty over whether the current notices should use “fewer” instead of “less”.’
If the English can’t be sure about their own language then it’s in a sorry state isn’t it. A quick check of a copy of Practical English Usage by Michael Swan (OUP, 2005) confirms that “less” is used with uncountable nouns, but is also commonly used with countable nouns in an informal style.
It’s arguably not incorrect, which is of course a double negative. The change was recommended by a group campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information.
What I think they’ve missed is that irrespective of it’s correctness, almost everybody understands what it means. Does “up to” always mean “and including” I wonder?
