Following on from yesterday’s image of a marmalade jar, repeated below for posterity…

Anyway. When I stuck this on Facebook little did I realise the storm of pedantry I’d be unleashing. I count seven shares. By my standards, that’s practically viral. (It’s no George Takei, but you take what you can get.)

Here are some of the comments that followed.

Andy:  They’re not whole oranges, so “less” is perfectly OK. (One could argue…)

Emily: By the same token one could argue that “How much oranges does it take to make one jar of marmalade?” is also valid, presumably?

Peter: Does each jar really contain integer oranges? That’s a remarkably precise bottling process if so.

Thomas: It’s not a matter of mathematics, it’s a matter of grammar (unlike almost all the other things on here which claim to be about grammar): “orange” is a count noun. Its real-world referent is irrelevant. (nb: I am not necessarily defending the enforcement of the less / fewer distinction, just saying that it’s not incoherent in this case.)

Peter: On the other hand, had they put “Less orange, still Seville”, I’m sure the reply would have been a Pantone chart.

Thomas: I’m sure someone would have done so, yes. That doesn’t mean that Emily’s adjustment was unreasonable within the terms of the less / fewer distinction.

Peter: I agree, I’m just seeing if we can find an even better formulation. Arguably, the elephant in the room (or the jar) is the claim that it contains Seville.

Thomas: “Fine cut Seville” should be the name of a hairdresser there. Wait, isn’t there an opera about that?

Peter: Prokofiev, The Love for Three Oranges Or Fewer.

Thomas: I was amused to see a Trinity punt called “Love of an Orange”.

Ben: If there’s going to be this much argy-bargy about it, it’s just as well they’re not the only fruit.