10 items or fewer....

Less than/fewer than...

It wasn't until I was actually into my student teaching experience that I was informed that there is a prescriptive difference for these two terms. This is rare for me. I typically pick up on a prescriptive application without thinking about it-- somehow grammar typically just "clicks" in my head.

But then one day my cooperating teacher is talking about less than and fewer than and I realize that the prescriptive difference is that fewer than is the term that belongs with count nouns and less than belongs with non-count nouns. 
 
OH. But wait a minute, right? ALL those cash register signs in the express lanes always say "count noun" or less...
So I started watching. I haven't found a sign yet that is correct. 
When I brought this up with several people, I've repeatedly heard the rumor that there are some Target stores where the signs are correct. I haven't found one yet. The one on University has "10 items or fewer" and so does the one in Conway. Maybe this was someone's prescriptive grammar dream about Target? I looked up some information about this. The most popular grammar blog on the internet, Grammar, Quick and Dirty Tips by Grammar Girl, states that,

"First, I think of the classic example of the grocery store express lane. Most of the signs for these lanes read, “10 items or less,” and that's just wrong. The signs should read, “10 items or fewer,” because items are individual, countable things. Between hearing people complain about the signs and seeing the signs every week or so, it sticks in my head that it should be fewer items. And when I stand in line and count the 15 items that belong to the person in front of me in the 10-items-or-fewer lane, I'm strongly reinforcing the idea that items are countable."

So I guess that this debate has actually went on for some time and somehow I just missed it. Now, of course, this has begun to bother me and I want to get out my grammar bat and beat the signs off the cash register poles.