Posted by anthonyberet on 03/21/06 23:37

Don M. wrote:
> "anthonyberet" <nospam@me.invalid> wrote in message news:486c5tFidvnsU1@individual.net...
>
>>Hammerer wrote:
>><snip>
>>
>>>>nope, 1.8 legs is still legs and 1.8 thousands is still thousands :)
>>>>
>>>
>>>And £1.8 in good old sterling is "pounds"? No! It's £1 and 80 shiny, new
>>>pence! Twenty shiny, new pence short of *2* pounds sterling! Really,
>>>anthonyberet . . . . hold together a cogent argument, whu don't you?!
>>>
>>
>>You thought you had gotten away with this didn't you?
>>Well lookee here:
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural
>>
>>Extract:"For example, in English, German, Italian, Spanish and
>>Portuguese, the plural form is used for zero or more than one, and the
>>singular for one thing only."
>>
>>Therefore, 1,800 which is clearly not 'one thousand only', must be
>>thousand_s_
>>
>>Goodness, I am fantastic sometimes. ;)
>>
>
> ==========
>
> You can be a fantastic pest sometimes, yes. 1800 is more than 1, surely. "More than one"
> is at least two unless you have a word to quantify 1.8. Clearly 1.8 doesn't qualify for
> plural; 1.8 of the unit of measure we call 'thousand' is still 1.8 thousand, more
> correctly 1800 is '1 thousand 8 hundred', not '1 thousand 8 hundreds'. Some people say
> 'eighteen hundred', not 'eighteen hundreds'.
>
Eighteen whale?
Eighteen cup of tea?
Eighteen trouser?

I think not!

> Moreover, that extract you quoted oversimplifies complex linguistic rules and was probably
> submitted by a unqualified contributor. Just look at the use of singular and plural in
> each of those languages for '4' and '8' in 4800, for example. In plain English even you
> should understand: that would be 4 'thousand', not 4 'thousands' and 8 'hundred', not 8
> 'hundreds'. German follows the same pattern, but not the other 3 languages. In English
> you'd use 'thousands' to denote undefined quantity in four figures as in "thousands of
> bloody pests infest Usenet", and no, nobody would assume it's just 1 thousand and change..
>
Well 1183 (I went back and checked) is four figures innit?
Clearly 'plural' means 'greater than one'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=plural
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=60938&dict=CALD

Ah this one leans a bit your way....but we are talking in and about
English, no?
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/plural

1183>1000

Put it this way, I have just drunk 1.183 cups of Bovril, not 1.183 cup
of Bovril.

Besides, why do millipedes only have about 200 legs?
Answer me that!

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