Re: The Birds and the Bees of Gender
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, March 30, 1999, 19:06 |
Brian Betty wrote:
> This is
> different from words like 'mob [of kangaroo]' because there can be mobs,
> clutches, etc. but not peoples, at least not in that abstract sense. You do
> hear 'peoples of the world,' but that is the use of the word people similar
> to mob or clutch, a group of x animals. This latter use may be as old or
> older than the nonplural collective form;
The later is the original meaning of the word, ultimately derived from
Latin _populus_, thru French.
--
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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