Suggestion: Perplexing Plurals

• I Am The Tag Team Champions!

edited 14th Oct '12 12:52:37 PM by Cider

use this format for potholing: [[URL/WikiWords text]]

I think that the scene you're suggesting is already the page quote is enough. It doesn't need the image to work.

... plus, is that even an example?

edited 14th Oct '12 12:25:11 PM by bananasloth

You didn't think I'd have a new page quote?

The format hates me! Why won't anything work?

edited 14th Oct '12 12:25:04 PM by Cider

this should help: Text-Formatting Rules

And I don't think those are examples.

The first is really just someone who doesn't understand basic English grammar. At least without context, that's definitely what it sounds like.

The second is - again without context, I'm just guessing - the name of an object that sounds weird because "four" anticipates a plural.

Those are not the trope. The trope is that the plural form of a noun is so unusual to an English speaker that they can't decide if it's right or wrong, or that they start to stumble around searching for the plural, trying several weird-sounding variants.

edited 14th Oct '12 12:44:47 PM by bananasloth

Well, it seems formatting some things on the forums are different than on the Wiki. I am leaving it like that, as I do not really care anymore. I just posted a couple images on Trope and Work Pages and they turned out fine, so I know that one will off of the forum.

Anyway, I can find other quotes, something more boring, like Syllabi, Sheep or Spanish, if you want to that literal, but the picture gets the point across.(The fan with the sign is just being funny)

edited 14th Oct '12 1:31:46 PM by Cider

I'm not against using "more interesting" examples for the quote and the image, I'm against using non-examples.

The picture is an example. That Kane and Daniel Bryan no longer grasp the concept of duality shows how far they are gone from Sanity Slippage. I'll just find another quote. That should be easier than an image.

No, it is not an example. The plural of champion is "champions". Simple as. Therefore, it does not fit a trope about non-simple, obscure, esoteric plurals for words.

This is just an example of somebody failing basic grammar lessons and using a plural when it should be the singular. That is not the trope.

edited 14th Oct '12 2:11:49 PM by ShadowHog

Then we should pull the quotation as well, since that's the same thing. It's misleading.

I agree, we should.

Done.

So, what about the page image? I can only imagine a web/comic to illustrate it, but there are no examples listed.

The Discworld quote in the examples would make a good page quote. But I agree that currently, there's no good page image candidates.

''This is a wug. Now there are two of them. There are two _____."

That doesn't really illustrate the "person indicates confusion over what the correct plural is" thing. Wug (and the variant "Cra") don't have a "correct" plural at all.

Sure they do. The correct plural is 'wugsies'.

:P

When presented in English, the plural which the experimenter is looking for is 'wugs', since that would indicate that the child has deduced that in general the plural form of a word ends in -s.

I know that (Brief digression: I'm sorry we lost the thread in Yack fest that was "what would the plural of "wug" be in any languages other than English you know?")

It still isn't a very good illustration of the trope, nor is it an example.

(...I'm sorry I missed a thread like that!)

Well... umm, I disagree, I guess. It is in fact the use of a simple form of this trope applied as a psychology test for inductive reasoning.

Clock is set.

Clock's up; locking for inactivity. No action is to be taken based on this thread.