The plural of ethos is not ethoi

[Smiles_]

Ethos as singular and plural, is the how I'll use it.

Or I'll go back to my original idea and just use ectoplasm for everything.


Smiles

 

[blakh]

English doesn't have one set of rules, it has the rule-book equivalent of Frankenstein's monster. Ethoi is a perfectly cromulent word.

So write can I on the fore like so and it will good?

 

[Susarian]

Well if Magic can make target an adjective, surely we can make ethos countable. After all, dictionaries tell you what is common usage, and you can change that if you only believe in yourself very very hard.

Abracadabra! Or in your case: !אברא כדברא

 

[Cruxador]

English doesn't have any rules though so... wuchagunnado?

English has rules. They can be stupid, convoluted, and often depend on things that are totally unintuitive, but they exist.

"Octopodes" master race checking in.

That's also a word but it doesn't mean exactly the same thing, it refers specifically to the taxonomic order.

Or, in some ludicrous display of inventiveness, "negative bonus"

Despite being stupid, it's technically correct. Like writing -1*x instead of -x

English doesn't have one set of rules, it has the rule-book equivalent of Frankenstein's monster. Ethoi is a perfectly cromulent word.

The fact that you can argue it's not forbidden by any rule doesn't make it actually not shit.

 

[ComradeSomo]

That's also a word but it doesn't mean exactly the same thing, it refers specifically to the taxonomic order.

No, it's the original Greek plural of "octupus", and carries that meaning into English. The term for the order is "Octopoda", which is already a plural noun.

 

[Cruxador]

No, it's the original Greek plural of "octupus", and carries that meaning into English. The term for the order is "Octopoda", which is already a plural noun.

Sorry for lack of clarity. The order's name is "octopoda" but members of it are octopodes. The distinction is mostly academic in this particular case, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[xtfoster]

As long as this doesn't become another "Bonus - Boni" - gate.

Im always confused by how greek/latin names and words are spelled in English.

Easy, spell them however you want. In the modern age of worldwide communications all that matters is you get your point across. So spell it however you want, pluralize it however, and use whatever form you want to show possession.

 

[BrokenSky]

The fact that you can argue it's not forbidden by any rule doesn't make it actually not shit.

I'm not. I'm arguing that the correct use of a word in English is derived from either:
1. It's original source
2. A corruption of it's original source
3. The general all purpose rule which is to grammar what default national ides are to national ideas.

Or to put it another way, since you mentioned it, what is the past tense of to shit? Shitted. What do people actually say? Shat. Why? Because it sounds like the irregular verb sit, which goes to sat. Does anyone actually care? Almost certainly someone somewhere does, but most people don't. Ethoses sounds wrong like shitted does, so people don't use it. If it really bother's OP, I will switch to some other correct sounding one though. Ethe probably.

And in case it wasn't obvious by the fact that cromulent isn't actually a word,

. Is what I was referencing.

 

[Trithemius]

This topic is perilously close to my job.

 

[ComradeSomo]

This topic is perilously close to my job.

Classicist or linguist?

 

[Njordin]

Ectoplasm.


Smiles

Why writing your name over and over again. Do you think its Important? Let me assure you, its not.

 

[Trithemius]

Classicist or linguist?

I work in an information role for [federal] government. It is a bit of a weird role, I admit.

 

[ComradeSomo]

I work in an information role for [federal] government. It is a bit of a weird role, I admit.

How's the weather in Canberra?

 

[Teije]

I don't like to disappoint the OP who asked so nicely, but I like "ethoi". So until I hear one that sounds better, I'll use it and face any potential wrath and scorn.

 

[Onirim]

Not true. It's true for english, but there are other languages with authorities and codified rules. English is one where the language is dependent on how people use it, but not all are.

Languages depend on speakers. Language academies only try to set rules to have a common ground for written language and they need to adapt their own rules periodically. Human languages are oral in the first place with rules imposed only by the very same speakers.

 

[Azkaban]

I merely want to say that I find amazing that you guys have filled almost 5 pages since yesterday in a thread of such little trascendence.

 

[Edopardo]

I merely want to say that I find amazing that you guys have filled almost 5 pages since yesterday in a thread of such little trascendence.

Are you new here? Excruciatingly long discussions over interesting but irrelevant subjects are our specialty!

 

[Cruxador]

what is the past tense of to shit? Shitted. What do people actually say? Shat. Why? Because it sounds like the irregular verb sit, which goes to sat.

Because terming that as "irregular" actually ignores and obscure and exceptional rule which applies to that very specific case. Words that end in "-it" do not get and "-ed" when pluralized. This is why the usual past-tense of "shit" is actually "shit" as with "hit" or "fit"*, the use of "shat" is less common and could be termed dialectal, but it applies to another less common and contradictory rule, the one which defines the "sit"-"sat" relation. It could be considered more correct actually, since that's a rule for words of germanic origin while the others are of norse origin, but general usage seems to prefer the more common rule regardless of word origin.

cromulent isn't actually a word

Sure it is. Neologisms are words too, if they get used.

*as in fit into a place, rather than fit clothes to someone

 

[DukeTowers]

Are you new here? Excruciatingly long discussions over interesting but irrelevant subjects are our specialty!

"This paper [...] is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual." -- Paul Krugman

 

[Mesina2]

I'll just call it ethics from now on.