Statins

My doctor called today to tell me the results of my recent blood test.  My cholesterol is high – a little over 200.  My triglycerides are high.  It’s been that way as long as I can remember.  I was given a cholesterol medication (a statin) once, and a month later I couldn’t walk.  A couple of years after that I had to have knee replacement surgery.  The doctors all claimed the cholesterol medication was not to blame.  I have since refused any and all medications currently on the market for treatment of high cholesterol.  They all have the same disclaimer – inflammation, impaired ability to walk, joint paint, etc.  They want me to take that stuff?  Really?  I don’t think so.  The last time my doctor tried to put me on some pill, I told her I thought the experts were wrong about having a score of 245 being a bad thing.  Every day new research debunks old research and the medical community completely reverses their previous findings.  If we just wait long enough, research will show that having cholesterol at less than 200 is really, really bad for you. 

Less or fewer?

Lots of confusion about these two words.  Most of us learned the basics of grammar in “grammar” school back when we were young and impressionable.  So why do most people misuse these two words?  I can see how a lot of people, ordinary folks, can be confused by them.  But, when I hear a commercial substituting less for fewer it really bugs me.  I won’t buy a product from a company who hires an ad agency who, when writing copy, mis-uses less for fewer.  Or when a news reader on TV uses less when they really mean fewer, it grates on my nerves.  It also bugs me when people use “badly” when they really mean “bad”.  I understand that saying “He/she feels badly” about something, they think it sounds more elegant than saying it properly, i.e. “He/she feels bad.” I guess I’m just a fucking purist. There are fewer and fewer (or less and less) of us around and I feel badly about it.  Poor grammar is commonplace and becoming more and more acceptable.  Just not to me