"-less" means "less than"? Or "lacking"?

[Peter A. McGraw]

I presume you're stressing that (as in, "we couldn't care less") the same
way the manufacturer had to be stressing "stain-LESS" to make their
tortured logic work.

--On Tuesday, May 31, 2005 12:46 PM -0400 Erik Hoover <grinchy at GRINCHY.COM>
wrote:

> I'd say this is an example of careless rather than careful wit.
>
> Erik
>
> On May 31, 2005, at 12:16 PM, Dennigan, Darcie wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Dennigan, Darcie" <dennigd at CAMPBELLHALL.ORG>
>> Subject:      "-less" means "less than"? Or "lacking"?
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> I recently bought "stainless steel" forks and knives from Crate and =
>> Barrel.
>> The product description (included inside the box, not posted outside) =
>> read
>> "Will It Stain?
>> Yes. The name says it all. It's stain-less steel, not stain-free
>> steel! =
>> Nevertheless, it will stain much less than other steels: silver,
>> bronze, =
>> etc. With proper care, staining can be minimized or eliminated."
>> =20
>> Is this anything more than the manufacturer's careful wit? I wondered
>> if =



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************