THE CANCER OF 10 TIMES LESS, ETC.

I realize that languages evolve,* but something has happened that is really weird.  Instead of saying "It costs one-tenth of product B" people are saying "It costs 10 times less than product B."  for a detailed discussion of this matter, see https://timesless.com/

Literally if an object that costs, say, $10 and another cost 10 times less, the cost of the second item would be -$90. (10 time $10 is $100 so 10 time less would be $10 - $100 or -$90.  What would this mean?  I think it means that the seller would pay me $90 to take his product.  Now that is a good deal!

I guess people no longer can do subtraction so they misuse multiplication to express subtraction.

This is appearing in ads so makers of ads think that this is the way most people think.  I'm afraid the battle is already lost.  I heard someone say "3 times less" today.

I have commented on disappearing words before.*  One along the same line as the above is the word "check" as in "I'll check on that."  People are saying "I'll double check on that." to which I respond, "Please check before you double check."

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/03/disappearing-words.html