VLVL2 (3): "more and less"

[Don Corathers]

The copy editor in me says the choice of "more and less" is a way of remodeling a tired expression to make the modifier refer to the individuals in the group, rather than the whole. Some of the friends were more transient, some less so. "More or less" would have been a lot less sharply focused. 

D.C. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tim Strzechowski 
  To: Pynchon-L 
  Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 5:36 PM
  Subject: VLVL2 (3): "more and less"


  "Zoyd was living down south then, sharing a house in Gordita Beach with elements of a surf band he'd been playing keyboard in since junior high, the Corvairs, along with friends more and less transient" (22).

  Why "and"?  What is the difference between that and "more or less"?
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