There have been a few regional dialect survey type threads on here lately, so now I would like to satisfy my curiosity about who says what where. I have always grown up saying “two pairs of socks” but I have recently encountered the other usage, most recently yesterday on a package of socks in a store. So here is a poll! And after you’ve answered the poll, if you feel like it, please post where you grew up and/or any other relevant data that might affect your answer, such as if your parent(s) grew up in a place with a different regional dialect from your own.
As for me, I say “two pairs”. I am from the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. My mother spent her childhood moving around the deep South and my father is from the suburbs of Chicago.
Grew up mostly in New York (suburb near Manhattan). And I say two pairs. It’s a normal word, so it gets an “s” when it’s pluralized. Have never heard of “two pair.”
UK. A pair is a singular noun describing a plural (like “a brace” where it comes to pheasants). Therefore the plural is “pairs”.
Though there are words used in the UK that don’t take the natural plural form - such as when we’re expressing body weight in stone. And prices in quid.
Slightly tenuously connected, in Ireland the plural of the euro currency is “euro” and the plural of the euro cent is “cent”. But they say “a scissors” so what do they know?
Born and raised in New Mexico, now live in West Texas.
I say pairs. I think in standard American English, collective nouns are usually singular (a committee writes an opinion, e.g.), and thus take an “s” to be made plural. I don’t see anything special about “pairs.”
However, I am in the minority in my neck of the woods. I have always, always, always, heard “two pair of boots,” or “two pair of pants.” To me, it always sounds like something a cowboy would say.
I agree with adding -s, of course. My Mom, who is from Northern Ohio like me but comes from western Pennsylvania roots and lived in western Pennsylvania as a girl, tends to omit the -s. I’m guessing it’s more an old-fashioned usage than regional dialect, and my Mom’s generation must have been the last to talk like that. I’ve always wondered why some people omit the -s, but have never seen an explanation for it.
Edit:
Unless it’s like *fish *or *deer *-- “just one of those things.”
Pair = all paired items are the same, as in a bundle of identical socks. In this sense, “pair” is effectively part of the number, not part of the item description.
Pairs = each pair is different from the other pairs.
I grew up in the Upland South of the US (Tennessee) and while I don’t practice the “pair” singular-as-plural thing, a lot of my kinfolk do. More than one pair = pairs.
