Back to School Week: UF Issues Alternative Transport Challenge
As kindergarteners to post-grads across the U.S. begin returning to school this month and next, they’re finding more and more of their campuses taking steps to reduce energy consumption, save water and go green. All this week, we at EcoLocalizer plan to highlight some of the ways in which schools nationwide are working to becoming more sustainable.
The University of Florida in Gainesville, for example, is launching a campaign to encourage students, faculty members and staff to reduce individual car travel in and around town. UF’s “One Less Car Challenge” (the grammar nag in me has to note it should be the “One Fewer Car Challenge”) asks everyone to explore other ways of commuting, including bicycling, regional transit, car-pooling and car-sharing.
“The One Less Car Challenge is part of a larger campaign to help support the UF community in tough economic times, and to emphasize UF’s commitment to a more sustainable campus,” said Kyle Cavanaugh, senior vice president of the university.
Both teams and individuals have through Sept. 17 for the One Less Car Challenge, which will get a festive kickoff on Oct. 17. That’s the day challenge organizers plan to host a fair featuring resources and demonstrations for bicyclists, details on the GreenRide car ride matching service, a ZipCar car-sharing program display, and information about the Gainesville Regional Transit System’s new Gator Locator GPS tracking system.
The fair will also offer free food, a prize drawing and a chance to watch UF’s annual car-vs.-bicycle race.
You can learn more about the One Less Car Challenge at the UF Office of Sustainability Website.
I wish to defend the grammatical correctness of the slogan ‘One less car’. We are not making a comparison or saying that there are too many or few cars on the road. We are merely saying that a bicycle decrements that number by one. Cars come and go. Their numbers are in a state of flux, but at least I can say, there shall be ‘one less’. Your idea of using “One Fewer Car Challenge” doesn’t make sense to me. How do you drive a fewer car?
Sorry Roman, I’ll have to disagree with you there : )
Here’s an excerpt from the “Fewer or Less?” entry at englishplus.com:
“Fewer or Less?
Use fewer with objects that can be counted one-by-one. (My note: as with cars.)
Use less with qualities or quantities that cannot be individually counted.
Incorrect: There were less days below freezing last winter.
Correct: There were fewer days below freezing last winter.
(Days can be counted.)
Correct: I drank less water than she did.
(Water cannot be counted individually here.)”
I understand the basic rule that says you can’t have less cars on the road, only fewer cars. But, to me, the expression isn’t saying that. It’s saying something different: If n= the number of cars on the road, the bike represents n-1. We are numerically down one, minus one or less one car. The avoidance of the few/many comparative terms is deliberate in this case because it would alter the meaning and impact of the expression. When you plaster a “One Less Car” sticker on a bike, the bike is the subject. “One Fewer Car” sounds wrong to my ear. “One Car Fewer” sounds better, but implies the road is the subject. The relationship between the subject and the object is now lost and it makes no sense. It’s not a less vs. fewer issue, to wit “One Less Traffic” doesn’t work either.
I think the grammarians should give us a pass here, because while ‘less’ almost always means that you are making a comparison, it doesn’t necessarily mean a comparison. I could just mean subtraction for example.
Thanks for your comments. You have given me cause to reflect on this issue even more.