“Less napkins,” Starbucks? How about less grammatical errors?
The napkin should say, “Fewer napkins,” as my nine-year-old easily figured out. That’s because you can count napkins. If you can’t count it, you say less: Less coffee. If you can count it, you say fewer: Fewer coffee cups.
How many editors and designers proofed these napkins before they were printed?
6 comments ↓
You’re going to think I’m stupid, but what’s the grammatical error?!?!
Since “napkins” is something you can count, you should say “fewer napkins,” not “less napkins.”
If you can’t count it, like if it’s pudding, you’d say “less pudding,” not “fewer pudding.”
Hey, you learn something new every day. Thanks for teaching me something new. I’m always interested in improving my grammar. Have you ever read “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” by Lynne Truss? It’s about punctuation, but I think you’d like it.
Jason,
I have looked at “Eats, Shoots and Leaves,” but haven’t read through it much. I think it’s sitting on my shelf now, so I’ll have to put it on my list.
I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one who was bothered by Starbucks’ utter failure to edit a simple phrase on a napkin that would be mass produced. I’m an English teacher, so when I first saw the slogan at the shop, I thought that the ad designers must have been foreigners. I’m so used to seeing English misused in foreign advertising that it was a shock to see this on an American product. Native speakers of English have the “countable” vs. “non-countable” concept unconciously learned within the grammar and would not need to think about or reason out the difference between pairs such as few/little and many/much. I can only wonder where these advertisers learned English…
I wonder how many people will think this is correct grammar? Considering how many people patronize Starbucks. I wonder what kind of an impact Starbucks is having on our nation’s use (or lack of use) of the English language?
Personally, I’m embarrassed to see their ecological brown napkins spattered with such a green mistake. It would be a minor offense if it wasn’t printed on thousands (millions?) of napkins dispersed nationwide.
Sorry for the vent! I’m finished now. Hopefully no one thinks I hate Starbucks.
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