At 11:18 am -0500 2/2/01, John Cowan wrote:
>Raymond Brown wrote:
>
>
>> But PLEASE, PLEASE keep the other two monsters your side of the Atlantic!
>
>Quine (the logician) says that most people write "rhinoceri";
>some vaguely remember that the word is Greek, and conjecture
>"rhinoceroi". But the true plural of the grim beast is
>"rhinocerotes", four syllables.
Quite right about the 'true' plural - that is Graeco-Latin plural.
>(Of course "rhinoceroses" is the standard form.)
Over here the usual plural used by educated & non-educated alike is
"rhinos". In formal situations educated people say "rhinoceroses" while
others say "rhinostrusses" (spelling?).
Ray.
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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
[J.G. Hamann 1760]
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