# Whopper Juniors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 8, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203 "2007-04-08T19:07:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/21 "2016-03-10T23:00:06Z")

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Filets-O-Fish?

Or Filet-O-Fish since fish is plural?

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**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/22 "2016-03-10T23:27:31Z")

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> [@VernWinterbottom](#):
>
> Would you say Figs Newton?

No, because “newton” is the noun.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/23 "2016-03-10T23:49:16Z")

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> [@gigi](#):
>
> Filets-O-Fish?
> 
> Or Filet-O-Fish since fish is plural?

Both “fish” and “fishes” is the plural for “fish,” depending on context. Anyhow, I’d go “filet of fishes” here, or possibly “filet of fish sandwiches.”

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/24 "2016-03-10T23:52:25Z")

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Has Burger King protected the name Whopper Sr., yet?  
[ul]  
[li]Whopper Seniors?[/li][li]Whoppers Senior?[/li][/ul]

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**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/25 "2016-03-11T00:06:17Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Both “fish” and “fishes” is the plural for “fish,” depending on context. Anyhow, I’d go “filet of fishes” here

Aren’t they all the same kind?

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/26 "2016-03-11T00:13:30Z")

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Brother in laws, or brothers in law?

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/27 "2016-03-11T00:32:48Z")

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> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> Aren’t they all the same kind?

Yes, but – sorry, it should have been “Filet-O-Fishes” – it’s a product name and should take a regular plural in my opinion. To me, the unit that gets pluralized is “Filet-O-Fish,” not “fish.” Just like it would be “Whopper Juniors” for me in regards to the OP. “Whoppers Junior” just sounds stupid in English.

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/28 "2016-03-11T00:41:14Z")

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> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> Brother in laws, or brothers in law?

Brothers-in-law.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/29 "2016-03-11T00:42:22Z")

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> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> Brother in laws, or brothers in law?

Personally, I hate “brothers-in-law,” although will use it to keep the pedants away.

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**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/30 "2016-03-11T00:50:06Z")

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Jeez, I thought you were all talking about malted milk balls. I gotta go lie down.

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**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/31 "2016-03-11T00:58:44Z")

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> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Jeez, I thought you were all talking about malted milk balls. I gotta go lie down.

mmmmmm…Malty Balls. I thought so, too.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/32 "2016-03-11T01:27:05Z")

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> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> It used to be the case that formal writing called for attorneys general and similar constructs.

Interestingly, I found that Jane Austen wrote “sister in laws” and similar constructs throughout her writing, occasionally when I would have thought that _noun_ **s** _adjective_ would have actual been easier to say or to scan in writing. And I have never heard her writing described as informal. I am not denying your point, but noting that English has a long history of its most famous authors not following classroom rules.

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/33 "2016-03-11T04:36:59Z")

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Dear Princess Royal Marie:

The sergeants major have returned with the Whoppers Junior that you requested. Professor Emeritus Smith suggested that we remember to pick up some Sevens-Up. We will need crates aplenty to stock our house beautiful. In times past, in fact, since time immemorial, that was enough for many dreams deferred. While you’re at it, could you pick up some nachos supreme? The ministers plenipotentiary and the femmes fatale are coming and threatening to call up some courts-martial unless we deliver proof positive of catering extraordinaire. If we fail, they will consider it malice aforethought and convince the body politic to declare us personas non grata with letters patent delivered by a private first class. Even God Almighty would be afraid of such a force majeure.

This is clearly a code red problem and I have gone through a treasure trove of whiskies sour finding a solution that will preserve the forest primeval without spending too many pounds sterling.

Yours sincerely,

Airman Basic Jones, notary public for the Church Universal and Triumphant and Director-General of the Battles Royale.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/34 "2016-03-11T04:51:13Z")

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😃

> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> the femmes fatale

However, to be pedantic (and why not) the plural of this one is an exception since its French. The proper plural is _femmes fatales_, since in French a plural noun takes a plural adjective.

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**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/35 "2016-03-11T12:59:46Z")

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Obviously “Sevens-Up” is off.

Perhaps more subtly, “whiskies sour” is wrong, because “sour” is not an adjective describing the whiskey, but the other way round; _sours_ are a class of drinks, which can be made with whiskey, or with other liquor.

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**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whopper-juniors/399203/36 "2016-03-11T16:00:14Z")

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This is one of those zombie threads that makes me really want to know what the necromancer was searching for that brought them here…

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