More sensible Singular/Plural logic in the English language
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But variety is the spice of life!
Jeremy Falcon
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
If the English language were developed in one sitting you'd see stuff like that. It however evolved over time in tidbits.
Jeremy Falcon
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Sadly English plurals are actually logical. All you need to know is the etymology of the word and that will lead to the correct plural. Simples.
veni bibi saltavi
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Forogar wrote:
I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as
Go enjoy Esperanto and let English be; there's already enough managers, marketing-idiots and Americans making up nonsense-words.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)
Agreed. I really hate it when people enverb nouns.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
The plural of Octopus is Octopodes :-)
Quote:
The usual plural in English is "octopuses" (pronounced /'ɒktəpʊsɪz/), but the Greek plural form "octopodes" (pronounced /ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/) is sometimes used, though less frequently than in the past. The form "octopi", as if the word were a Latin second-declension noun, is generally considered incorrect, but is in fact used.
I've always used octopi or slimy, 8 legged bastard/s. Couple of years ago I was on a fishing pier and someone pulled up a small and live octopus that had grabbed the line. I took it from him (he was going to kill it, I think). It was such a cute little chap and I threw him/her/it back into the water.
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
bu bye.
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
"House/Hice" So the origin of the word is germanic and for the plural the 's' becomes a 'z', so in Dutch, a close relative of english, huis becomes huizen, as in english, house becomes, phonetically, houzes.
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"House/Hice" So the origin of the word is germanic and for the plural the 's' becomes a 'z', so in Dutch, a close relative of english, huis becomes huizen, as in english, house becomes, phonetically, houzes.
I don't want any of this real logic! I want silly plural logic! Stop being so accurate! I am an English language scholar so have a lot of this etymological history available to me. What you tell me is actually very interesting!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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When you invent the time machine, you can go back on work on restructuring the language. And, I think you'll find other languages besides English as just as finicky. And, while you at it, stop the creation and Java and it's offspring as well.
Tim Carmichael wrote:
And, while you at it, stop the creation and Java and it's offspring as well.
3 errors in one sentence :D.
Wout
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Agreed. I really hate it when people enverb nouns.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Sadly English plurals are actually logical. All you need to know is the etymology of the word and that will lead to the correct plural. Simples.
veni bibi saltavi
Yup, and there are only 750,000 or so root words, so there's no good reason why he shouldn't have memorised the etymology of hem.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I am fed up of illogical singular and plural sets such as: one=sheep, many=sheep. Logically it should be: one=shoop, many=sheep, just like one=goose, many=geese. Here are some other suggestions based on existing plurals; new words are underlined; feel free to add your own: Singular/Plural Model: Goose/Geese & Tooth/Teeth & Foot/Feet Shoop/Sheep Moose/Meese Hoof/Heef Mongoose/Mongeese Twoozers/Tweezers Model: Mouse/Mice & Louse/Lice House/Hice Grouse/Grice Blouse/Blice Spouse/Spice Douse/Dice Trout/Trice Foosh/Fish Model: Woman/Women & Man/Men Ham/Hem Model: Hippopotamus/Hippopotami & Genius/Genii & Radius/Radii Litmus/Litmi Lexus/Lexii Octopus/Octopi
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.