# Plurals in English Are Weird **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657 "2021-02-24T17:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/61 "2021-02-25T00:35:39Z")
I suspect context and familiarity makes a big difference in how certain things sound. If you standing near a stack of milk cartons, “Hand me a couple of milks” will sound just fine, but in other contexts, it will sound weird. We’ve heard “a couple of beers” - meaning cans, bottles or glasses depending on whether you’re near a tap or a ice-chest full of bottles/cans - often enough that it now seems fine, but at first it probably sounded odd. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/62 "2021-02-25T02:12:22Z")
We get a number of different types of milk: high protein skim, whole, vanilla soy, plain unsweetened soy, cashew-almond, evaporated, shelf-stable bottles of chocolate-- some of them are used for baking, and we get them pretty rarely, some are used for putting in coffee, and we get them only every few weeks. But there was some occasion that in addition to a holiday in the offing, when there was lot of baking, we were stocking up for potential bad weather. So there were five or six different kinds of milk on the shopping list. I was the one who went to the store. When I got home, my husband asked “Did they have all the milks in stock?” I answered in the affirmative, before I stopped to think about the odd construction. I had not had any trouble processing and understanding exactly what he’d meant, though. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/63 "2021-02-25T04:56:10Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I thing the weirdest plural in English is cavities. The singular word is cavies 🤔??? Huh? What do you mean? The singular word is cavity. It follows the same formula of any other -ty noun. Parties, deities, beauties, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/64 "2021-02-25T05:08:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Huh? What do you mean? The singular word is cavity. I think **furryman** may be conflating dental caries with cavities. Different words, same meaning. Caries is both the singular and plural form. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/65 "2021-02-25T05:32:00Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I personally like the idea of using Latin plurals at the end of English words. But grammar purists will insist Hippopotimi and octopi are wrong. According to the Christmas song, the correct plural is “hippopotamuseses.” ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/66 "2021-02-25T14:17:53Z")
Honestly, when does one ever need to discuss more than one hippopotamus at a time? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/67 "2021-02-25T14:53:23Z")
The question is based on an unspoken assumption – the idea that the English language was designed by someone (probably a committee 🙂). English, like all languages, evolved. English was also made more complex because it freely took words from other languages. So a consensus on how to create a plural evolved for no particular reason except that it made sense at the time. There were rules, but they were overruled by things like euphony or just plain pigheadedness. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/68 "2021-02-25T14:59:29Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Honestly, when does one ever need to discuss more than one hippopotamus at a time? 🙂 [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AjnOj9O16_I/hqdefault.jpg "Flanders & Swann - The Hippopotamus Song (Live)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjnOj9O16_I) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/69 "2021-02-25T15:56:40Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Honestly, when does one ever need to discuss more than one hippopotamus at a time? 🙂 When fleeing a family or herd of them. But don’t talk to much; you’ll need all your breath for running. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/70 "2021-02-25T16:04:51Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Honestly, when does one ever need to discuss more than one hippopotamus at a time? 🙂 Occasionally. > [@Ogden Nash](#): > > Behold the hippopotamus! > We laugh at how he looks to us, > And yet in moments dank and grim, > I wonder how we look to him. > > Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus! > We really look all right to us, > As you no doubt delight the eye > Of other hippopotami. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/71 "2021-02-25T16:13:21Z")
There is a device called a “tailor’s goose”, basically a type of flatiron. Now for the story: The manager of a wholesaler of tailor’s suppliers prepared a letter to one manufacturer and wrote “Please send immediately, fifty tailor’s gooses.” The manager thought a bit, crossed that out and wrote “Please send immediately, fifty tailor’s geese.” Then he thought a little while longer, crossed that out, and wrote “Please send immediately, ONE tailor’s goose… Oh - what the hell, make it fifty.” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/72 "2021-02-25T17:17:28Z")
“Caries” is the decay itself; “cavity” is the hole in the tooth it causes. “Caries” is a mass noun that happen to look like a plural. If you wanted a plural, it would be something like “areas” or “spots of caries.” Likewise, you could say “A single area/spot of caries.” > [@RealityChuck](#): > > English, like all languages, evolved. English was also made more complex because it freely took words from other languages. It’s also a language that has hybridized more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/73 "2021-02-25T19:43:18Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My favorite weird plural comes from [an old puzzle](https://www.cartalk.com/radio/puzzler/dictionary-dazzler) on Car Talk: name an obscure plural noun that shares no letters in common with the related singular noun. cow/kine ? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/74 "2021-02-25T20:17:51Z")
That’s it! (The answer is also at the link) ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/75 "2021-02-25T21:37:36Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Another fun bit of weirdness: think of a plural noun. Add an -s to the end to get a singular noun. (There are multiple answers to this, I think, but only one that’s very common) (edit: I’ve looked at some lists and found at least two common answers; there may be more). feminized: adventures → adventuress millionaires → millionairess ogres → ogress other ones: bibles → bibless needles → needless cosine → cosiness speckles → speckless saltines → saltiness handles → handless cares → caress ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/76 "2021-02-25T21:59:23Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > other ones: > bibles → bibless > needles → needless > cosine → cosiness > speckles → speckless > saltines → saltiness > handles → handless > cares → caress To be a pedant, bibless, needless, speckless, and handless aren’t nouns. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/77 "2021-02-25T22:03:16Z")
No you’re right I didn’t read carefully enough. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657/78 "2021-02-26T05:09:24Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Dish washer - I don’t wash one dish at a time, that would be a waste of water. This should be dishes washer. > > Floors mop, steaks knife, hands soap, and nights light should all be plural too. I’m not using these on one floor, one steak, one of my hands, and only one night. I heard a comedian (from West Virginia) say, “Do you know how we can be sure that the toothbrush was invented by a West Virginian? Because otherwise it would be called a teethbrush!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plurals-in-english-are-weird/933657.md?page=3)