A quick word to my non-existant readership. It’s Christmas and here’s to a happy holiday season celebrating the jolly fat man (and a certain someone’s birthday if you so swing that way).

Anyway, on a side note, perhaps you’ve noticed the snow falling onto this blog. Wonderous innit? But it’ll clear up on Sunday, the 4th of January so soak it up folks!

Today’s Odd Spot focused on the topic of big companies bowing down to allegations of poor grammar; namely Tesco (the large supermarket chain in the UK). Here’s how it went:

British supermarket chain Tesco has reportedly bowed to pressure from the Plain English Campaign and scrapped signs reading “ten items or less”. Critics say the signs should have read “ten items or fewer”. New signs will say “up to 10 items”, thereby avoiding a grammatical debate.”

Unfortunately, when questioned about the difference was between fewer and less I was unable to provide an explanation. So, using this article on the correct usage of fewer and less, I am now able to explain to the world on yet another common grammy folly. Joy!

In short—if you’re too lazy to read the whole linked article—less is used when describing an amount which cannot be counted, e.g. electricity, fun, memory etc., whereas fewer is used when describing an amount which can be counted, e.g. trees, computers, mice, etc. Even in sentences like, ‘Less than $50,’ the amount being specified is part of a larger unit or group so the usage of less is appropriate.

So in the case of Tesco, the correct usage should be ‘ten items or fewer’ because the items are countable. Whether you care or not is irrelevant, because now you are part of preserving grammar as we know it and at the very least you can say that you’ve learnt something today.

So today we endured a presentation at senior assembly from an old boy on the topic of ‘Measuring Body Fat’. Now, not only was his topic choice completely inappropriate in the context of assembly speeches, it was also incredibly inappropriate considering the demographic of 16–18 year old boys who made up the audience. I do appreciate the thought of him going to the trouble to educate us about his profession and staying healthy—I’m sure he meant well—but there’s no getting away from the fact that this was dead boring.

Now to make a bad situation worse was the powerpoint. A typical example of ‘what not to do’ when it comes to using a slideshow to complement a presentation. A garish yellow on black motif and some attempts to squeeze too much into one slide left us, the audience, in a trance like state. see below [Dilbert 2008.08.22]

So what should we do so this never happens again? Easy, just watch Death by Powerpoint and take on board what’s hot and what’s not. This particular slideshow has been my reference for good use of Powerpoint and shall continue to be the first thing I point people towards after witnessing many of these abuses of the medium.

Hopefully when the time comes when you are called back to your old high school to present to a group of boys about your experiences on whatever riveting career path you’ve chosen, you can sleep well knowing that you haven’t caused death by powerpoint.