Re: Adopting a plural

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 19:25:55 +0100, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:

>Thankfully. I think we should explain that 'agendas' is not a double
>plural in that 'agenda' is now a singular noun in 21st cent Eng. A pity in
>some ways because it means that instead of saying "the first agendum" we
>now have to say more long winded "the first item on the agenda". But there'
>s no way 'agenda' is going go back to being a plural again.
In fact, you can say "the first agendum".  American Heritage defines
'agendum' as an item on a list, not the list itself:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=agendum
"Something to be done, especially an item on a program or list."

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My current thinking is that the adopted plural will be used:
1) for emphasis
2) more often with words borrowed from the "imperial language"

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