# So, apparently, the word "pair" is no longer useful **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131 "2011-05-16T19:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/42 "2011-05-17T06:58:04Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > You think someone might screw up ‘pair’ but do fine with ‘set’? It’s worth a shot… ETA: And are people serious about calling this guy an idiot because he misunderstood one thing? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/43 "2011-05-17T07:10:13Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Or two brace of braces. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/44 "2011-05-17T07:29:54Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So, you are suggesting that there is a linguistic issue here? Perhaps, since descriptive linguistics includes the misuse of human language. Many more examples would be needed before any textbooks are rewritten; can you help research? 😃 For me, a more interesting question would be: Was such an error equally common during the Age of Literacy? Here’s a weird case in another language. In Thai adjectives generally follow noun. Replacing Thai syllables with the corresponding English equivalent, colloquial Thai has the following oddity: [ul] [li] three thousand = 3000[/li][li] two thousand = 2000[/li][li] one thousand = 1000[/li][li] thousand = 1000[/li][li] thousand three = 1300[/li][li] thousand two = 1200[/li][li] thousand one = 1000 (ambiguous, but 1000 rather than 1100 is the usual meaning)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/45 "2011-05-17T14:27:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > If you were an archer, and asked for two pairs of arrows, you’d get six of them. > [@Cicero](#): > > Okay William Tell, care to explain before I go nuts? A set of three arrows was called a pair of arrows, though the OED lists it as “Now chiefly _hist_.” One of the quotes (from 1801) says > [@](#): > > In archery, three arrows are called a pair; that, if one is broke, lost, or injured, the archer may have two (the number used at a time) left of equal weight. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/46 "2011-05-17T15:01:29Z")
[Illustration](http://bg0lden.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/legolas-with-two-arrows.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/47 "2011-05-17T17:41:58Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > ETA: And are people serious about calling this guy an idiot because he misunderstood one thing? Probably unfair. He may have just been having a passing idiotic moment. Happens to all of us. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/48 "2011-05-17T17:47:43Z")
To be a little more precise, it wasn’t just passing. It lasted at least from the moment I called in the order to several weeks later, when I picked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/49 "2011-05-17T18:30:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To be a little more precise, it wasn’t just passing. It lasted at least from the moment I called in the order to several weeks later, when I picked it up. Okay, I’ll agree that never considering the possibility over the course of a month took an extra scoop of specialness. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/50 "2011-05-18T04:12:05Z")
Giving the benefit of the doubt, if the items were not sold as a set, perhaps he thought you were asking for “two paired” braces which I would take to mean one left and one right. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/51 "2011-05-18T04:17:22Z")
I think the salesperson was just thick. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/52 "2011-05-18T10:01:20Z")
It wasn’t a salesman. It was my podiatrist’s assistant. And I’m still thinking here that there’s some linguistic issue. I’m not ready tomconclude that he was “just thick.” ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/53 "2011-05-18T10:24:23Z")
Seems like you have all the answers. Good luck. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/54 "2011-05-18T11:33:45Z")
Wait, I’m suspending judgement in the face of your bald conclusion about the intelligence of a person you’ve never met and I’m the one with “all the answers”? How odd. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/55 "2011-05-18T11:42:39Z")
But, you see, you asked this question on an Internet message board where it is unlikely anyone will meet this person. If that is the governing factor all answers here will have the same validity. And if you don’t want answers from persons who have “never met” this person, this is indeed an odd place to ask. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/56 "2011-05-18T11:52:57Z")
So, you’re unable to address a question of language usage without reaching conclusions about a stranger’s intelligence? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/57 "2011-05-18T12:01:36Z")
I’m rapidly reaching a conclusion about a strangers intelligence based on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/58 "2011-05-18T13:07:11Z")
**Acsenray, Cicero** , both of you back away from the keyboard, please. If you need to impugn each other, take it to the Pit – if you don’t, dial it back. Thanks, **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131/59 "2011-05-18T13:58:34Z")
FWIW, I think the guy was a bit of an imbecile, too, or just had a brain fart. 🙂 The month thing doesn’t really surprise me. If he got it into his head at first that you just wanted two ankle [del]bracelets[/del] braces then I see no reason for him ever to address it again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-the-word-pair-is-no-longer-useful/582131.md?page=2)