Re: CHAT: San Marino

On Mon, 28 Aug 2000, DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:

> From: "John Cowan"
>
> > > German has Auto > Autos. Why not Euro > Euros (Obviously pronounced
> /Ojro/ -
> > > /Ojros/)
> >
> > Quite possible.  But German doesn't pluralize a noun after a number
> > (nor does any Germanic language IIRC except English):
>
> Sure it does (they do): ein Hund > zwei Hunde, ein Mann > vier Männer, and
> so on.
Oops, of course.  I *meant* to say "a unit of measure", not "a noun".

> "ein Meter, zwei
> > Meter" is normal for "one meter, two meters".  Therefore, "1 Euro,
> > 2 Euro" seems very natural in German but not in English.
>
> When quoting a price, the unit of currency is not pluralized: (How much is
> this?)
Or any measurement, I think.

> zwei Mark
> zwei Dollar
> zwei Pfund
>
> Outside of price, I'm not sure whether one uses the plural or not:
>
> Es gibt zwei Pfunde auf dem Tisch. or Es gibt zwei Pfund auf dem Tisch.
Then it's no longer a measurement, but a kind of metonymy: the unit
for an object which measures the unit.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
"[O]n the whole I'd rather make love than shoot guns [...]"
        --Eric Raymond