Reply to post: Re: Rostering is a poisoned challice, strong constitution and thick skin required

Mailshot meltdown as Wessex Water gets sweary about a poor chap called Tom

Loyal Commenter Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: Rostering is a poisoned challice, strong constitution and thick skin required

"No less than" is an idiomatic phrase, and is used frequently to mean 'no fewer than'. Even when strictly speaking it is not syntactically correct to use 'less' when referring to a countable noun, the idiom implies conversion of the subject into a mass noun. For example, 'no less than 100 people' implies a mass of at least 100 people. When used with smaller numbers, the idiomatic nature of the phrase is used to imply that the subject, where normally countable, is an excessive number and therefore treated as an uncountable noun.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon