Re: USAGE: THEORY/USAGE: irregular English plurals (was: RE: [CONLANG]
| From: | Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, May 23, 2002, 4:37 |
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At 11:39 am -0400 22/5/02, John Cowan wrote:
[snip]
>And in any event "deers", "sheeps" are definitely out in all contexts.
Tho one does, in fact, hear "deers" on the lips of British urban-dwellers;
for me it always conjure up images of old ladies, until the context makes
me realize there talking of cervidae. I regret to say I've even seen
"deers" in print - o tempora, o mores!
It would, indeed, hearten me to know that "deers" are still definitely out
in all contexts your side of the pond.
"Sheep" still seem to be safe. I hear "sheeps" or, more often, "sheepses"
when people are being deliberately facetious (but if And replied that he
heard people using "sheeps" in earnest, I'd not be surprised).
Ray.
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Speech is _poiesis_ and human linguistic articulation
is centrally creative.
GEORGE STEINER.
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