(I'm still only half-paying-attention to the list. Exams soon.)
Padraic Brown wrote:
>--- John Cowan <jcowan@...> wrote:
>
>>Stephen Pinker thinks that this is because irregular
>>inflected forms,
>>unlike regular ones, tend to be associated with
>>particular uses of the
>>plural, since they are stored separately in memory.
>>"Mice" tends to
>>be used in a collective way, not a distributive one
>>(since one mouse is
>>pretty much interchangeable with another most of the
>>time),
>>
>>
>Pretty much why "mouses" sounds so weird for computer
>mice. One mouse is very much like another whether it's
>got a tail or a PS/2 cable on.
>
Not really. I couldn't plug my mouse on this computer onto my other
computer; it lacks the necessary (PS/2) port.
>>and we feel
>>funny applying it in a sentence like "Those
>>computers have optical mice".
>>
>>
>Sounds 100% normal.
>
I think '100%' is a bit of an exaggeration for me ;)
Though I'd admit someone might say 'Stop unplugging the mice!' just as
willingly as 'Stop unplugging all the mouses!'. But 'Leave the mice
plugged in' and not 'Leave the mouses plugged in'.
>Here are some other examples using less novel words:
>
>
>>0a) I set the flagpole on its base.
>>0b) I set the flag to "true".
>>
I don't understand what's happening here.
>>1a) The flagpole stood on the top of the
>>mountain.
>>1b) The cottage stood at the foot of the
>>mountain.
>>1c) The flagpoles stood on the tops of the
>>mountains.
>>1d) ?The cottages stood at the feet of the
>>mountains.
>>
(1d) made me laugh a bit ;)
>>2a) This classical-music lover has a sweet
>>tooth.
>>2b) ?These classical-music lovers have sweet
>>teeth.
>>
>>
>
>Here, "sweet-tooths" is a compound (meaning "likes
>sweet foods"), whereas "sweet teeth" are, well, "teeth
>that taste sugary".
>
'Sweet-tooths' doesn't make proper sense. One has a (singular) sweet
tooth, but 'sweet tooths' seems to imply all of their teeth are sweet
teeth. 'Sweet tooth' is unpluralisable.
>>3a) Your mother and I dig the Doors.
>>3b) ?Back in the Sixties, your mother and I dug
>>the Doors.
>>
Took me some time to work out what (3b) here meant.
>>4a) This job really sucks.
>>4b) This job really bites.
>>4c) My last job really sucked.
>>4d) ?My last job really bit.
>>
>>
>For the most part, I don't understand what's wrong. 4d
>sounds a bit off, but I don't naturally use the word
>bite in that way, so don't really know how to use it
>anyway.
>
No, I'd have to agree. (4d) sounds off (I wouldn't use 'bite' like that,
preferring 'suck' or '(is) shit' or '(is) dodgy' depending on meaning,
but I'm perfectly familiar with it's usage).
>The strangest thing you did in the whole post is start
>the first example on naught rather than one. Now
>_that_ bites. ;)
>
>
Nought (and is that not how the digit is spelt?) is a perfectly
ligitimate starting place. Ask any computer ;) It's also commonly used
when beginning with an example that doesn't prove what's happening,
preface or whatever.
Tristan.