one less woman

[GoodTaste]

What does one less mean here?

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In recent months, you may have seen a TV adfeaturing striking young women skateboarding and drumming as a voice-over intones, "Every year, thousands of women die from cervical cancer. I want to be one less woman who will battle cancer." The women represented are self-confident, accomplished, artistic, and independent. Only one boy shows up in the ad—in a still photo. But what is most striking about the ad is that it is just one part of a much larger cultural and political battle about young women and sex.

Source

 

[Matthew Wai]

I want to be one less woman who will battle cancer.

I take it to mean 'I don't want to be one of the women who will battle cancer'.

 

[GoodTaste]

BTW, in the context below (also in that report), should "implicit in this argument is" be "implication in this argument is"? Because "implicit" as an adjective can not serve as the subject.

Much less understandable, though, is the position taken by many opponents: namely, that a cervical-cancer vaccination would "promote promiscuity" among teenage girls. Implicit in this argument is the assumption that good girls don't get cervical cancer; only "loose" ones do—and they may get what they deserve. Earlier this year, State Sen. George Runner of California told the Los Angeles Times that American money would be much better spent on other types of vaccines, since cervical cancer is a result of lifestyle choices, rather than bad genetic luck.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Implicit in this argument is the assumption that good girls don't get cervical cancer.'
'The assumption that good girls don't get cervical cancer is implicit in this argument.'
The subject is 'The assumption that ...'

 

[GoesStation]

BTW, in the context below (also in that report), should "implicit in this argument is" be "implication in this argument is"? Because "implicit" as an adjective can not serve as the subject.

You could say An implication of this argument is..., but the sentence is better as it was written.

 

[Barb_D]

It means there should be fewer women who get it, and I want to be part of the population of women who will not get it now, even though I might have in the past (because I will have been vaccinated).

It's not that X number of women will get it, and I don't want to be in the population of X.

It's that now Y women will get it - and Y is less than X. I will be in the group of "X-Y" - people who won't get it but who might have otherwise.

 

[Tdol]

It isn't very accurate, though. Her vaccination only means that she will probably not have to battle this particular cancer, but the way she phrases it, she sounds as if she won't have to battle any cancer.

 

[Skrej]

Note that we typically use the phrase "one less X' to refer to something unpleasant or negative. Whatever there is one less of was something negative, and there was too much of it, and it's good that there's less of it, at least in your opinion.

I might say "That's one less mosquito" after killing one. I'm implying that I think mosquitoes are bad, and there are were too many of them in my area to begin with, and it's good that I've eliminated at least one of them.

It can however also be used to express a sense of loss. If I said something like "That's one less hero in the world" when somebody died, I'm implying that there are too few heroes to begin with, making this one's loss all that more meaningful.

Of course, the original sentence is referring to the first case. The ad is saying that there are too many women who get cervical cancer, and this vaccination means that there will be one less woman who will get cervical cancer, which is a positive thing.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Can I take the quoted sentence to mean 'I want to be one of the women who will not battle cancer'?

 

[Skrej]

Not exactly. It means "I want to be one of the women who will not battle cervical cancer."

As has been mentioned, it's only a vaccination against one particular form of cancer, not cancer in general.

 

[Tdol]

Can I take the quoted sentence to mean 'I want to be one of the women who will not battle cancer'?

That is the implied meaning, and it is an advert, but it is not the correct meaning.