Alternate take on this:

I was talking to some of my co-workers about this question today (using US Presidents as the example), and someone suggested:

"George Washington was the first President of the United States, and John Adams was the second; what is the current President?"

There's a word for this, I just can't think of what it is. There must be a word for this. It's on the tip of my tongue. No, that's not it. What is that word?

(shuffles away, mumbling softly)

Jun-Dai is admirably correct. The usage I personally find clearest is, "Which prime minister...."

See my latest comment to this post:

http://painintheenglish.com/post.asp?id=225

Also some thoughts: When we think of "fewer," we think of a decreased quantity of individual items. When we think of "less," we think of a smaller item, or--here's the connection--a smaller GROUP of items.

So we could occasionally, and quite legitimately, have two ways of putting the same thing, like so:

"There is less emphasis on proper English usage these days." Or,
"Fewer people emphasize proper English usage these days."

That's where I think the confusion arises, though I doubt if most English speakers could articulate it.

The Waffle House combo? Scattered, smothered, covered, topped, chunked... and tossed.

The "Ten Items or Less/Fewer" is the oldest joke in the English tutor's repertoire, admitted. :)

I can complicate the "eels" issue beyond belief by introducing culinary French; do you think of a hypothetical dish "aubergines Bonne Femme" as singular or plural, though it is plural in French? I would be inclined to say, "Aubergines Bonne Femme is, roughly speaking, an eggplant stew with vegetables."

I don't know... a purple silk scarf, a previous career in interior design, and his hand on your knee?

Actually, I was talking about this just now with the gal in the next cubicle, who reminded me of the expression (cover your ears if you're sensitive) "talking out of your ass." ("Arse" for you British types.) In other words, you might as well be farting as speaking.

I think it's likely the various expressions of this type (another one I've seen, largely in publications from India, is "talking out of the back of your head") are euphemisms for the cruder statement above, in the same way "gosh darn" is a euphemism for "God damn."

Oh, I agree. There is practically no situation in which you might say "I says" in which "I said" will not do better. (Unless, of course, you are animating the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor.)

And, incidentally, "value judgments" are perfectly appropriate. That is what we are doing every time we prefer one thing over another in any given situation. In the case at issue, we see that the usage "I said" is of inestimably greater value than the usage "I says" in practically all conceivable cases.

Well, I did say it was technical!

This expression is reliably dated to at least one hundred years ago, and I'm not sure that even then everyone knew where it came from!

It is slang for talking nonsense, or even lying, to mislead someone. The origin of the phrase may be lost, for all I know. But when hear it I always visualize someone putting their hat up to the side of their mouth as if they were trying to shield what they are saying from anyone else who may be watching.