a stick of french fry?

Factual Questions
1

a piece? a slice?

what do you call a single piece of french fry, straw, onion ring, eyebrow hair and pimple??

yes, we were at BK and were bored…

2

A French fry surely?

:confused:

3

They are all exactly as you stated: a french fry, straw, onion ring, eyebrow hair, and a pimple. I can’t imagine why why would think otherwise.

Example: “Can I have a French Fry?”. “Can you pass me an onion ring?”. I have a pimple that hurts.". “Can you get a straw for me?”.

4

This question has to be a joke right? You really want us to explain that generally in English that when you add an ‘s’ to the end of a word it is plural “e.g. my cows got out last night” versus “My cow Bessie needs a shot” while it is singular without an ‘s’. Of course there are many exceptions such as the word “deer” but these are not among them.

5
      • Just got back from McDonald’s and horror of horrors, the only thing I -really- go there for was the fries these days, and they all tasted like skin-on fries. A few had the skin on, but all of them had the taste. As if the skinly-nastiness had infected the oil. How sickeningly putrid! Whose idea was this anyway? He should be drawn and quartered.
        “Hey! I have a great idea! Instead of skinning and prepping a cow, why not just leave all the skin on, and just cook and serve it that way???”
        Duh geeee, ummmmmohhhIdunno… maybe because,
        it’s revolting?
        Who would ever complain about such a thing?
        If I want fries done right now, it seems I’ll be making the damn things myself at home.
        … [sob]
        . . . . . . . . .
        (-sigh-)
  • I suppose it’s no surprise; their shakes became undrinkable by me when they went to that “triple-thick” crap. Ahh well, goodbye, McDonald’s.
    ~
6

So you’re not lovin’ it?

7

eh, it’s not a joke. :smack:

my mind drew a blank when asked about the items in the OP and i thought a strand of hair, a slice of pizza, a piece of cake, a drop of water… guess this is one of those times where the spelling of conscience just don’t look right…

8

Well, there are nouns that need a unit of measurement or “counter” to specify them. For instance, a “piece” of paper, a “cup” of water, a “pair” of pants, etc. But none of the examples you listed need them.

This is common in Japanese. You have to have a “counter” to specify how many fo an item you have. But, needing a “counter” in English, is relatively rare. Anyone know if there’s a web page or reference that lists them?

9

Here’s one for Japanese and one for Chinese.

10

Here’s one for Japanese and one for Chinese.

There are two types of nouns in English (and other languages): mass nouns and count nouns. Count nouns are discrete objects of which one can possess or refer to a certain number: fifteen French fries, two straws, six onion rings, two hundred and twenty-six eyebrow hairs, eighteen pimples. Mass nouns are used to refer to amounts of an object, to things that must be measured: a litre of Coke, a cup of secret sauce, five packets of ketchup. In English, mass nouns must be used with a unit word that clarifies how much of the object one is referring to. There are a very few discrete objects in English that are technically count nouns but are usually used with something analogous to a measure-word: a pair of pants, a pair of scissors, fifteen head of cattle. All the examples you gave are count nouns, so there is no special term for referring to a single object.

11

Thanks, but I was looking for a list of English “mass” nouns, I guess. Have you seen a list of those? I guess liquids and gasses (things that aren’t discrete) will always be mass nouns but how many other ones are there?

12

I’d call it a chip, but that’s because the word means something different here in the Kingdom of Butter.

13

wikipedia lists a few examples: ten stem of roses, three ears of corn, duet, threesome, quadruplets etc.

14

One of the many slight-yet-strange differentiations between English-English and Irish-English is the removal of some of these counting words.

For example: in England I would say “a pair of scissors”.

In Ireland it’s common to say “a scissors”.

Also, I have come across “a stairs” when in England one would say “a staircase” or “a set of stairs”.

But they don’t say “a trousers” because that would be silly.

15

I have always referred to the item in question as a “fry”.