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I prefer to call them pantaloons.phinds said:So, how ARE you going to identify the garment that with 2 legs? Pants?
I prefer to call them pantaloons.phinds said:So, how ARE you going to identify the garment that with 2 legs? Pants?
No, it comes from its derivation from an Old Dutch word sudse, meaning marsh or bog.BillTre said:I think the "s" on the end of suds, only indicates a awareness of its being composed of a bunch of very similar items.
pbuk said:for example Latin
It may be the case that there is no example of the plural of virus in any surviving Latin literature ("Caecilius has a great collection of slimy poisons"?), but that doesn't mean that the word cannot be pluralized. As a neuter noun vira would be liguistically consistent (note that viri would not - this is the plural of the irregular masculine noun vir meaning man).Vanadium 50 said:Like virus, which appears not to even have a plural in Latin?
Kind of - although I think opera (both in the senses of works like La Traviata and of buildings like La Scala) came to English directly from Italian where it had already become singular.PeroK said:That leads on to "opus" and the plural "opera", which has become singular.
pbuk said:Caecilius has a great collection of slimy poisons
pbuk said:note that viri would not - this is the plural of the irregular masculine noun vir meaning man
pbuk said:but if you wanted to refer to the collated works of Homer and of Virgil you could refer to either their corpora or corpuses.
pbuk said:But virus is third decelension neuter
Vanadium 50 said:neuter second declention ending
These are declensions I've never seenpbuk said:But virus is third decelension neuter
That statement angers meVanadium 50 said:English has nouns that only exist in the singular (as opposed to words that do not change form) too: anger,
Yes, that is the normal way that singular nouns ending with an 's' in English are made plural; those that are dealt with otherwise are exceptions, and as we have no literary precedent for any pluralisation of virus in Latin there is no reason to make an exception (and so the discussion above on vira vs viri is academic).symbolipoint said:Virus for singular but viruses for the plural.
Yes, although I think virion has been constructed Frankenstein-like by scientists from different parts: the suffix -ion presumably stemming from the English word ion = 'a charged particle' whose origin is Greek = 'I go [towards an anode or cathode]'.symbolipoint said:I also remember having been taught, that for just one whole unit of the virus, one single virus particle, this is "virion".
Mark44 said:yes, I'm using it as a verb...
symbolipoint said:Suds is always plural. I have never experienced suds in any numeration other than plural. Something of this which can be singular would be "bubble". You may have two bubbles next to each other but this is usually not yet suds - still only "bubbles".
Truly, if the modification or manner of usage is effective for communication then it is good. The scissors example I am not too comfortable with. I offer no remedy for it. Still, if someone detaches the two scissor parts, what exactly do we call each of the separate parts?Fervent Freyja said:“I was washing my hair and accidentally caught a sud (single soap bubble) in my eye.”
You can simply modify many nouns that are nearly always plural by tampering with overall sentence structure.
I could also say, “I cut my leggings in half, and used one legging for a shirt sleeve.”
“The ox-cart ran over him and tore up his pants; thankfully, the left side pant carrying his wallet remained intact.”
“My scissors were in need of repair so I separated them for inspection: I found scissor A had a large gash causing them to catch on each other.”
Here is some further reading on this:Fervent Freyja said:“My scissors were in need of repair so I separated them for inspection: I found scissor A had a large gash causing them to catch on each other.”
Scissors half?symbolipoint said:Still, if someone detaches the two scissor parts, what exactly do we call each of the separate parts?
Rethinking that, maybe each piece should be called, "scissor".mfb said:Scissors half?
This should have been easy to recognize, so now, having spent the effort to have thought through it seems to should have been a much lighter effort.hutchphd said:Each of your front teeth is called an "incisor" after all. Surely from the same root (etymologically not dentally)..
rsk said:noone has mentioned the word people yet.
Hmm, so it's a word with two plurals then.Vanadium 50 said:Peoples of the world.
No, peoples in the context that Vanadium used it is singular.rsk said:Hmm, so it's a word with two plurals then.
I've never heard 'the people is' , only ever 'the people are'
I can't think of a single example where 'people' would be used with the singular form of the verb.phinds said:No, peoples in the context that Vanadium used it is singular.
I see no problem using in making use of a choice of "people" or "peoples"; only in analyzing each of them. Telling us the details is the work of a true linguist.rsk said:I can't think of a single example where 'people' would be used with the singular form of the verb.
Someone give me an example and convince me please!