For the grammar police with extra time on their hands....

Can anyone name all four English plural nouns that end in 'n'?

children oxen women men?

eta:  is that really all?

mjc said:

children oxen women men?

eta:  is that really all?

Yes and yes, as far as I know.

brethren

Led Zeppelin

Who was that man who wrote the really funny books on the oddities of English? He was an American, I think from a quaint town along the east coast. Collected funny palindromes and anagrams, limericks etc, and knew all the other grammatical trivia to turn into party tricks...  

I loved his two most famous books, read them over and over.

brethren    

Led Zeppelin    

joanne - Do you mean Ogden Nash? I think of him as a poet so that may not be the correct person.

I found my answer! Wlillard Espy, The Game of Words and Words at Play (not to be confused with Michaelson’s later book)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_R._Espy

Edited to add: I always thought Oysterville was on the east coast, not the west. Oops!

Nash was great but in a different way. Not a collector of words.

joanne said:

Edited to add: I always thought Oysterville was on the east coast, not the west. Oops!

It absolutely is (on the east coast).

Oysterville is the spiritual home of the Sydney Rock Oyster - the best oyster in the country!

@marksierra, I’m referring to the USA as you well know! (If you’re not careful, my maman will haunt you, she adored Mr Espy and his books, and often dreamt of visiting his home in Oysterville)

Espy’s obit gives a taster of his joy in language for those who can’t remember him well.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/25/arts/willard-espy-who-delighted-in-wordplay-is-dead-at-88.html

More interesting notes on the grave marker site: 

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHCGR_Willard_Richardson_Espy_Oysterville_Cemetery_Washington

Who doesn’t have one of these as a pet peeve?

Enjoy the quiz!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-18/words-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean/8846540

joanne said:

Who doesn’t have one of these as a pet peeve?

Enjoy the quiz!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-18/words-that-dont-mean-what-you-think-they-mean/8846540

When the quiz asked what "literally" means and I responded, "Who cares?" -- I meant I didn't care. It still called me incorrect.

I am nonplussed.

I’m sending you a hug. And I’m sorry I was out, so I didn’t see your post until now.   

@Tom Reingold - What about vaxen?  (VAXen?)

Is it bad that I have a difficult time taking some of the BOE candidates seriously due to typos and grammatical errors on their websites? 

jfinnegan said:

Is it bad that I have a difficult time taking some of the BOE candidates seriously due to typos and grammatical errors on their websites? 

I 100% agree! No, it's not bad. I don't expect everyone to write perfectly. But BOE candidates should care enough to have their writing reviewed by someone who does know how to write. Same with any elected official. 

sac said:

@Tom Reingold - What about vaxen?  (VAXen?)

  How many of us remember those?

thought you’d all enjoy the article and the ensuing comments:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/01/resistance-to-changes-in-grammar-is-futile-say-researchers

joanne, your article linked through to all sorts of interesting pieces on English(es) - thanks!

The trail is "0.4 mile long" or "0.4 miles long"?

zucca said:

The trail is "0.4 mile long" or "0.4 miles long"?

The trail is “four-tenths of a mile long.” At least, that’d be the workaround of a coward like me.

Given your choices, I favor “0.4 miles long,” because that’s how people speak.

Yes. Unfortunately, there are way too many of them to change them all, and I kind of really need numbers here, but otherwise, I might do the same. I also opted for 0.4 miles, but I'm starting to question myself. Especially when it's 0.1 miles, even though it makes no sense logically whatsoever that it feels different to me.

Not sure about a couple semi-colons in here, but let's go Team Oxford! 

http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2017/10/exurb1a-grammar-explained.html

zucca said:

Not sure about a couple semi-colons in here, but let's go Team Oxford! 


http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2017/10/exurb1a-grammar-explained.html

Love it!

zucca said:

I also opted for 0.4 miles, but I'm starting to question myself. Especially when it's 0.1 miles, even though it makes no sense logically whatsoever that it feels different to me.

I admire your doubt, and there’s some logic to making it “mile,” which I do see occasionally. But anyone who argues for it is overthinking it. Or so think I.

Haha. Overthinking is my specialty. 

I mainly don't want to be inconsistent and don't want a reader to be thinking about whether or not it's right.

If the context is good with digits, would it be good with "mi."?

That would be a brilliant solution. But I've kind of gone unabbreviated in general. I'll have to think about that one. Because if you say 2.3 miles, and 0.3 miles, would you also say 1.0 miles (but 1 mile)? It's always the little things.