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  3. More sensible Singular/Plural logic in the English language

More sensible Singular/Plural logic in the English language

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mongodb
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  • F Forogar

    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.

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jacquers
    wrote on last edited by
    #17

    So virus... would it be viruses or virii ;P

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    • F Forogar

      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.

      N Offline
      N Offline
      Nagy Vilmos
      wrote on last edited by
      #18

      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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      • L Lost User

        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)

        G Offline
        G Offline
        Gary Wheeler
        wrote on last edited by
        #19

        Agreed. I really hate it when people enverb nouns.

        Software Zen: delete this;

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        • D Duncan Edwards Jones

          The plural of Octopus is Octopodes :-)

          R Offline
          R Offline
          R Giskard Reventlov
          wrote on last edited by
          #20

          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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          • F Forogar

            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.

            R Offline
            R Offline
            Ron Anders
            wrote on last edited by
            #21

            bu bye.

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            • F Forogar

              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.

              M Offline
              M Offline
              Munchies_Matt
              wrote on last edited by
              #22

              "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.

              F 1 Reply Last reply
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              • M Munchies_Matt

                "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.

                F Offline
                F Offline
                Forogar
                wrote on last edited by
                #23

                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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                • T Tim Carmichael

                  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.

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                  W Offline
                  wout de zeeuw
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #24

                  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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                  • G Gary Wheeler

                    Agreed. I really hate it when people enverb nouns.

                    Software Zen: delete this;

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    Chris C B
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #25

                    You're fired.

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                    • N Nagy Vilmos

                      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

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      Mark_Wallace
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #26

                      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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                      • F Forogar

                        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.

                        V Offline
                        V Offline
                        Vark111
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #27

                        I've got a simpler rule: Just put "Mo" in front of any singular noun to make it plural. House/Mo House Moose/Mo Moose Octopus/Mo Octopus

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