Fun Stuff > CHATTER
English is weird
pwhodges:
Put it all down to the quaint charm of the language; I wouldn't have it any other way - but then, why should I?
People have tried at many times and in many ways to regularise the language, mostly concentrating on spelling, and usually with little lasting effect; perhaps the most effective deliberately planned change was Webster's removal of the u from colour etc - but even that had only somewhat local effect.
Is it cold in here?:
"A scissors" is not unheard of: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scissors. I never heard it in any of the US places I've lived.
There's no way a language could be internally consistent with as mixed a history as English has.
Redball:
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 04 Mar 2013, 16:14 ---Put it all down to the quaint charm of the language; I wouldn't have it any other way - but then, why should I?
... but even that had only somewhat local effect.
--- End quote ---
That's a sly one! But I agree with the quaint charm.
Carl-E:
I think the use of "pair" with these plurals just reinforces them. The "lack" of a singular is just that we don't see / use them. If you split your pants far enough, you'll get a trouse; when the scissors break, you have a scis. And this one - a single lens in a frame is a "glass", as in a magnifying glass. So that one does work... but that's only one.
idontunderstand:
And if you say "a couple of glasses" that would be four lenses, right?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version