"Little" Vs "Few"

That's dog punishing you, Jack, for your misleading ways.

Take care and I do hope you enjoy your Sunday and the days to come. Cant' those things be zapped by a laser?

I have little money and few reasons to smile
I have less money and fewer reasons to smile than Jack Smith.
but...
I have more money and more reasons to smile than Jack Smith.

As I recall, C, you were the one who raised that silly, silly notion about may/can.

All I remember saying was that in my youth, genteel folks (and my schoolteachers) expected you to distinguish between (can) ability and may (permission), in fact that is was (is) a slightly old-fashioned British English class indicator.

I'm glad that you have cleared that up, C.



I wonder why those idiots didn't want you [the general you] to distinguish between (can) permission and (may) possibility.

Odd isn't it, how class indicators are so often based on silly little fictions.

Ugh.. I hated teachers like that. The ones that would make you ask repeatedly, until they were satisfied with your choice of words, for permission to go for a pee.

You hated that, Ceili, because you knew, even as a small child, that those "teachers" didn't have the foggiest notion of what they were saying.

These same teachers/people who perpetuate these canards would turn right around and say, for example, to those students,

Can I borrow your pencil? Can I sit here for a moment? ...

This was an London County Council primary school in the 1950s. (Rosendale Junior Mixed in Rosendale Road, West Dulwich, SE21) The aim of the teachers seemed to be to eradicate or at least reduce the tendency of the kids to speak like "little guttersnipes" as my mother put it. (This was a mostly working-class area of South London in the 1950s; my parents had middle-class ambitions but couldn't run to private school fees) Dropping aitches, saying "ain't", swearing, in fact Cockney pronunciation and usage generally.

Right, C. As I mentioned,

"Odd isn't it, how class indicators are so often based on silly little fictions."

I remember some ignorant things that my mother believed too. I'm glad to see you've made such progress that you're not burdened by prescriptions which are after all, just silly little prejudices.