Squeeze in as much containers as possible

[Glizdka]

Some time ago I asked whether native speakers use little instead of few with countable nouns because I was sure I had heard it before. I couldn't provide a linkable example back then, but I promised I would if I found one. I still haven't found a linkable example of little instead of few, but I do have an example of much instead of many.

Two Dollar Twenty, an Australian, says "(...) and then, um, you know, realizing that I've got this corner down here of the port, I mean, hugely, uh, inconvenient for, uh, you know, trying to squeeze in as much containers as possible, so I decided to square it off a little bit more, which is what I'm doing down here."

How often do you hear that? I'm pretty sure it's a mistake, but does it strike you as unnatural or otherwise non-native-speakerly? Two Dollars Twenty is definitely struggling with his words here and thinking of what he wants to say at the moment of speaking, so it might just be a rare slip on his part, but if a native speaker can make such a mistake, does it say anything about the severity of making the same mistake by learners?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't hear it said that way very often (if ever).

 

[emsr2d2]

It's an error but, given that the speaker seemed to having trouble organising his/her own thoughts into a coherent message, it's not much of a surprise.

 

[teechar]

He made a mistake. He should have used "many" instead of "much".

[cross-posted]

 

[Glizdka]

Well, I'm trying to get some insight into how "wrong" certain mistakes feel. I bet most people don't even notice when someone uses less instead of fewer because it's very common. I suppose much instead of many feels extremely wrong to you, am I right?

 

[5jj]

Yes.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm sure this wasn't a grammatical error. I mean, it isn't that he doesn't know the correct form. It's just that he started the sentence without knowing what he was going to say. That is, he didn't know he was going to say containers until he'd already uttered the word much. Native speakers simply don't make errors with much/many.

(Nice port, by the way!)

 

[Glizdka]

I'm sure this wasn't a grammatical error. I mean, it isn't that he doesn't know the correct form. It's just that he started the sentence without knowing what he was going to say. That is, he didn't know he was going to say containers until he'd already uttered the word much. Native speakers simply don't make errors with much/many.

(Nice port, by the way!)

Makes many sense. That's probably why I haven't heard much sentences with that error from native speakers.

I guess it's the same case with little instead of few.

 

[jutfrank]

I guess it's the same case with little instead of few.

Yes. However, less and fewer is a completely different story!

 

[emsr2d2]

Makes many sense.

Unfortunately, this little joke didn't work because we wouldn't say "It makes much sense". It works in the negative - "It doesn't make much sense" but in the positive, we say "It makes a lot of sense". People don't tend to mix up "a lot of" and "many".

 

[Glizdka]

Unfortunately, this little joke didn't work because we wouldn't say "It makes much sense". It works in the negative - "It doesn't make much sense" but in the positive, we say "It makes a lot of sense". People don't tend to mix up "a lot of" and "many".

I thought I'd get away with it.

 

[emsr2d2]

I thought I'd get away with it.

It was a nice try. Making puns or language jokes in anything that isn't your native language is impressive.

 

[Tdol]

I'd use many, but many native speakers use less when traditional grammars would have them use fewer. It might not be such a rare slip- many would do the same.