OT: I'm Just Sic [sic.], Peeves: (was: Re: OT: graffitum)

From: R A Brown <ray@...>

> No, as a plural, surely, just like the French do: 'les spaghettis'. We
> had a French student staying with us once who habitually carried this
> habit over into English and, when cooking, would tell us the "The
> spaghetties are ready." Note also the plural verb - which would be used
> in Italian also.
I could live with this, sans "s". Man, talk about overanalyzing. But if "pease"
and "cherries" get reanalyzed...wake up and smell the pease porridge.

> >>BTW I've commonly seen 'grafitti' and even 'grafitty' - I kid you not
> >>{sigh}
"Papparazzi" used in the singular. Okay, if it went the way of "spaghetti": "the papparazzi
is/are a nuisance". But no: "Such and such celebrity kicked such and such a
papparazzi (not papparazzo) in the face for an unflattering photograph." The
joys of living in interesting times while things are being reanalyzed. And "au
jus!". Some local (by which I mean estadounidense) peddler talks about a
sandwich served with its own heaping megagallon of fresh-cooked au jus. The
noun is "jus," people! "Toys 'R' (backwards) Us" doesn't bother me (discussed
recently), but the "N" (backwards) (and I saw some other Russian letter ("D?")
being used to show a music thing was "edgy" does. I didn't scream "O tempora, o
mores!" about "qwinna" to "kvinna" or "zoowel" to "zowel". It's capricious, I
know (maybe Brits are writhing over my use of "analyze" for "analyse").
Language is organic, I know. But couldn't some of these shifts occur after I'm
firmly entrenched in the cold, cold ground?

Kou

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