Timeline for When is it correct to use "scissors" as a singular noun?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 25, 2022 at 12:46 | comment | added | Dan | Could it be that 'a pair of...' satisfied a need some people felt for a word that sounds plural (even though there is no such thing as 'a' scissor) to be clearly, if nonsensically, plural? | |
| Jun 24, 2022 at 13:28 | comment | added | Esther | @MaxWilliams that's what happened to "a pair of compasses," which became "a compass" over time. | |
| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Jul 30, 2017 at 11:07 | comment | added | Arm the good guys in America | There are instances of 'a scissor', including this one among others. And some of the uses of 'a scissors' date back to 100 or more years ago, so I don't know about evolution of the word. @MaxWilliams | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 8:12 | comment | added | Max Williams | I think that we're witnessing the evolution of a word. Saying "A pair of scissors" to refer to a single object seems silly, and there's no such thing as "A scissor". It would therefore be logical to start to refer to the object as "A scissors" or "A scissor", and it may be the case that the medical profession is leading the way. In surgery, time is often tight and clear, quick communication may literally be a matter of life or death, so it's perhaps not surprising that they are leading the way on this matter. | |
| Jul 16, 2017 at 1:14 | vote | accept | Diego Jancic | ||
| Jul 16, 2017 at 0:49 | history | edited | Arm the good guys in America | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 16, 2017 at 0:39 | history | edited | Arm the good guys in America | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 16, 2017 at 0:32 | history | answered | Arm the good guys in America | CC BY-SA 3.0 |