Linked Questions

0 votes
2 answers
705 views

Is "hanbok" considered a countable noun?

Is "hanbok" considered a countable noun, or an uncountable noun? I assumed that "hanbok" meant a specific clothing item, and is therefore countable, and therefore "she wore a hanbok" would be proper ...
Golden Cuy's user avatar
  • 18.2k
25 votes
7 answers
4k views

Should foreign words used in English be inflected for gender, number, and case according to the conventions of their source language?

Is there a general rule for whether, for, example, foreign nouns and adjectives used in English should be inflected for gender, number, and case as they would be if the entire text were written in the ...
SAH's user avatar
  • 3,026
7 votes
6 answers
4k views

Why don't Yen and Yuan add an 's' in the plural form?

One says 10 Dollars or 10 Euros, but 10 Yen or 10 Yuan. Why?
Ross Millikan's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
81 views

Should ‘emoji’ be a defective noun? [duplicate]

In all of the descriptive dictionary definitions of “emoji” I've encountered thus far (e.g. Merriam-Webster entry), the plural of emoji is given an optional “s.” plural emoji or emo·jis In the ...
batpigandme's user avatar
  • 1,246
10 votes
2 answers
245 views

Declined Latin nouns in English prose

In German it was customary to decline Latin words used in German prose. One might, for instance, speak of performing a reductionem ad absurdum, using the the accusative form of the word reductio when ...
Toothrot's user avatar
  • 1,062
1 vote
0 answers
116 views

Is there any guideline on the plural form of loanwords from Japanese? [duplicate]

I just saw a trailer of 47 Ronin. My first thought was "that doesn't sound right". We have 12 Monkeys and 13 Warriors. Why 47 Ronin? Then I recalled that there is a movie titled Seven Samurai. I ...
Damkerng T.'s user avatar
  • 1,733
18 votes
8 answers
62k views

When did the term "flip flop" displace the term "thong" in North America for a type of sandal?

To Australians like me "thong" means a kind of sandal such as recently repopularized by the Havaianas brand but we know it means a kind of G-string in other English-speaking parts of the world. To ...
hippietrail's user avatar
  • 7,658
2 votes
1 answer
4k views

What should be the plural of “kibbutz” [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Plurals of foreign words A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Since this type of a settlement is unique to Israel, its ...
SIMEL's user avatar
  • 1,339
6 votes
2 answers
34k views

Is "sushis" the plural form of "sushi"? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Should nouns borrowed from Japanese be pluralized? I am having a hard time trying to find out the plural form of "sushi". Is it "sushis" or something else?
user1187968's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
3k views

How do you decline nouns borrowed from languages with several categories for declining nouns (or none at all)?

English has two grammatical categories of number. One is the singular, and the other is the plural. Many nouns in English have different singular and plural forms. When nouns are borrowed from ...
user avatar
25 votes
5 answers
8k views

New Zealand pronunciation of "women" vs "woman"

I have read in a number of places that the NZ pronunciation of "women" must be rather peculiar. Quoting from just one such place: For some years I've noted the tendency of Kiwis to pronounce "woman"...
RegDwigнt's user avatar
  • 97.2k
172 votes
4 answers
228k views

What is the plural form of "zero"?

I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results. I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!
Doctor Jones's user avatar
  • 1,841
12 votes
2 answers
7k views

Was the usage "Spaghetti were" ever acceptable or common?

In W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence, there is a line about Dirk Stroeve which goes His spaghetti were …. Spaghetti is plural in Italian, but is this ever a normal usage in English? ...
user avatar