# How does LEGO work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785 "2003-05-22T11:59:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/41 "2003-05-22T21:24:42Z")
Lego my [Eggo](http://kellogg.marketlocator.com/kelloggs/us/knutr.nsf/webeggo/66476F724F7DA394862569AE0076BFE0?opendocument&Cat=Eggo)! I remember my older LEGO brand unique fun-time play-blocks losing their “grip-ability” with age. I seemed to get a new batch every year to mix into my collection, and you could always tell the new ones by the tight grip the held on the LEGO brand unique fun-time play-blocks below. Pash ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/42 "2003-05-22T21:42:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*No, **PigBoy** has it wrong. **PigBoy** and you need to read up about what a noun is and what an adjective is. I’ve highlighted a clue in your own post. Welcome to the SDMB anyhow. \*\* I don’t know which part I’m wrong about, but if it’s whether the word is supposed to be an adjective, I’ll clarify by quoting what **dantheman** alluded to earlier, from the Lego (oops, make that LEGO®) [website](http://www.lego.com/eng/info/fairplay.asp). > [@](#): > > If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Or is it that the word is in fact being popularly used as an adjective? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/43 "2003-05-22T21:43:52Z")
All I can say is I’ve _never_ heard “Legos” until reading this thread. ---
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/44 "2003-05-22T21:45:22Z")
**everton** , your smarmy prescriptivism notwithstanding, brand names are nouns, _and_ adjectives, but proper usage is almost universally adjectival. Lego’s own PR explicitly states that the word “Lego” is not intended for use as a noun, but as a modifier. Common usage tends towards nouns, but more from expedience than grammar. No one really wants to say, “Get me a Band-Aid brand adhesive bandage! Quickly!” Nevertheless, that’s how the product is worded on the package, and Johnson & Johnson never use(uses?) Band-Aid as a noun. Lego bricks are obviously discrete (and I get to correct your spelling if you get to correct **Loisseau** ’s grammar – discreet means secret, discrete means countable), so all this hubbub about “bulk noun” or “mass noun” is eyewash. In short, there is no single argument that bears any scrutiny to favor either “Lego” or “Legos” as the correct descriptor for this product. The correct descriptor is “Lego bricks,” or, more generally, “Lego elements.” Since no one (especially a child) can reasonably be expected to say that every time, we will adopt the diminutive of our choice. Lego and Legos are both incorrect, and therefore both acceptable. I say “Lego.” Hearing “Legos” makes me cringe. I offer no defense. **ashre** , welcome aboard. I’m sorry you had to see that. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/45 "2003-05-22T21:54:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aubries \* > \*\*I say “Lego.” Hearing “Legos” makes me cringe. I offer no defense. \*\* Hear! Hear! That pretty well sums it up ('cept it’s ‘defen **c** e’! - kidding 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/46 "2003-05-23T05:59:53Z")
You know something, **aubries**? I’m sorry _I_ had to see that post too. Making an unsolicited personal attack against me might clear your pipes out, but it ignores one crucial fact: that everything I (and several others) have posted to this thread has been to explain _common usage_ of these words in Britain, the USA and other places, not to give instructions about the “right” or “wrong” way to use them. That fact has already been pointed out more than once. For that reason, whether you or I or the product manufacturer say they _should_ be used as a noun or an adjective is immaterial. In the UK and other places Lego _is used_ as a bulk noun, in the USA it’s used as a discrete noun. You got me over a spelling error, which is a silly oversight on my part, but it’s not “eyewash”, it’s a fact. Your comments are not only unnecessarily hostile, they’re irrelevant. **PigBoy** : I hope you’ll agree that it was not obvious from your first post that you were referring to the advice on the manufacturers’ website, but if that’s what you were doing I owe you an apology. According to the people that make this stuff the “right” way to use Lego is as an adjective, not a noun. That’s not what people _do_ though. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/47 "2003-05-23T06:57:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > **There’s no grammatically logical reason why we in the UK use plural verb forms for teams and singular ones for the cities themselves, it’s just a convention we’ve grown used to and makes it easier to understand the subject of the sentence. The mental image we have is of “players” as you’ve suggested, but that doesn’t make Manchester an adjective.** I’ve noticed the same thing about the names of corporations. US: Microsoft has released a new operating system. UK: Microsoft have released a new operating system. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/48 "2003-05-23T07:02:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*All I can say is I’ve _never_ heard “Legos” until reading this thread. \*\* Sure you have, **TLD**. It’s a brand of [pasta sauce.](http://www.simplot.com.au/brands_leggos.asp?Nav=9) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![\_44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/0ea827/32.png) [@\_44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_44)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/49 "2003-05-23T07:02:21Z")
I’m new to this, but is there a time where arguing over whether to add an S to a word gets old or just seems futile? ---
**Author:** ![bo989](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@bo989](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bo989)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/50 "2003-05-23T07:04:36Z")
I’ll chime in from Canada. It’s always been Lego for me. Singular = “Block of Lego”, Plural = “Lego”. For example: “Look at that model! It’s made entirely of Lego!” NOT “It’s made entirely of Legos!” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/51 "2003-05-23T07:32:42Z")
It isn’t just the addition of an S **#44** - it is an entirely different mode of referring to the stuff - the American usage considers ‘a Lego’ to be an individual element, the UK/European usage has no simple term for an individual element (it would be ‘a piece’ or ‘a brick’) and ‘Lego’ is the name of the system/brand/concept. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/52 "2003-05-23T07:40:27Z")
Ah, but what about Tyco bricks? I had a bucket and always called them “Tycos”. I suppose this makes me an enemy of both Lego purists and grammar fiends (of which I confess to be in slightly more important cases), but they worked for a 4 to 6 year old. As to the OP (for crying out loud, this is GQ, _not_ GD or even the Pit! :wally ), I have experienced not a tightening, as was stated, but loose, ill-fitting bricks in the case of the knock-off Tyco version. I have observed the crunchiness with Legos; I guess they use a secret ingredient or something. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/53 "2003-05-23T09:20:27Z")
Geez, people. For the purpose of this thread let’s stick to the OP and discuss _nothing_ but the mechanics of how the damn things work. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785/54 "2003-05-23T20:18:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*You know something, **aubries**? I’m sorry _I_ had to see that post too. > > Making an unsolicited personal attack against me might clear your pipes out … [blah, blah, blah] > > Your comments are not only unnecessarily hostile, they’re irrelevant.\*\* :rolleyes: Oh, for crying out loud. The entire hijack is irrelevant. I wasn’t attacking you. I was pointing out that a discussion which has no business happening at all, in a thread which asked a completely different question, had degraded to the point where a member (you, as it turns out) was telling another member to look up the difference between a noun and an adjective. You might be reading a thread where no one is telling anyone else about what’s “right” or “wrong,” but the one I’m reading included the statement, “No, PigBoy has it wrong.” I don’t see how that helps the cause here. First you offer a patronizing grammar lesson, then you back off and decry that we’re just talking about common usage. Well, that’s only sort of what you were talking about, but I’ll stipulate to it. And anyway, I was agreeing with you. I call it Lego. It sounds better. Bulk noun. Right there with you. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lego-work/176785.md?page=2)