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Index of Subjects --part1_76349.633940e7.418d5077_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Language: en Very interesting. I was raised in Lincolnshire, the ancestral home of the= =20 "poachers". The use of the plural was very specific there and the natives= =20 have been poaching since the time of the Romans. We would use the plural= if=20 the term was generic. "I shot two pigeons" or "I shot two rabbits" when it= =20 was specific we would say "I shot two snipe", "I shot two mallard" but you= =20 would say "I shot two ducks". Can't say if that is a grammatical rule but= it=20 was what we did and my family had been poaching there since the doomsday= =20 book. Stow Minster is the reputedly the largest and oldest church in Engl= and=20 and dates from the 9th century. =20 Peter Stow Hubbards =20 =20 In a message dated 2014-11-06 5:57:18 P.M. Atlantic Standard Time, =20 jimwolford@eastlink.ca writes: I have just read Ken McKenna=E2=80=99s latest posting, as usual full of= =20 interesting stuff, but here is a question I have wanted to raise for some= time now =E2=80=94=20 and this will bug some of you, who should sign off now=E2=80=A6. In recent times, I have grown tired of trying to know when to apply an = =E2=80=9Cs=E2=80=9D to make a plural vs. =E2=80=9Cknowing=E2=80=9D which species are best le= ft alone when=20 forming plural numbers. Especially problematic are =E2=80=9Csnipe=E2=80= =9D vs. =E2=80=9Csnipes=E2=80=9D or=20 =E2=80=9Cwoodcock=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cteal=E2=80=9D etc. etc. I with my= =E2=80=9Ccommon-sense=E2=80=9D rules of=20 grammar have decided to just Anglicize all bird names by adding =E2=80=9C= s=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Ces=E2=80=9D to=20 all of them, as some of you have noted when I write =E2=80=9Cteals=E2=80= =9D, e.g. What say the rest of you? or does anyone care? Is this important to=20 anyone? Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. --part1_76349.633940e7.418d5077_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Language: en <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3DUTF-8" http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META name=3DGENERATOR content=3D"MSHTML 11.00.9600.17344"></HEAD> <BODY id=3Drole_body style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR:= #000000"=20 bottomMargin=3D7 leftMargin=3D7 rightMargin=3D7 topMargin=3D7><FONT id=3Dr= ole_document=20 color=3D#000000 size=3D2 face=3DArial> <DIV><FONT size=3D3>Very interesting. I was raised in Lincolnshire, the an= cestral=20 home of the "poachers". The use of the plural was very specific there and= the=20 natives have been poaching since the time of the Romans. We would use the= plural=20 if the term was generic. "I shot two pigeons" or "I shot two rabbits" when= it=20 was specific we would say "I shot two snipe", "I shot two mallard" but you= would=20 say "I shot two ducks". Can't say if that is a grammatical rule but it was= what=20 we did and my family had been poaching there since the doomsday book. Stow= =20 Minster is the reputedly the largest and oldest church in England and date= s from=20 the 9th century.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D3>Peter Stow</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D3>Hubbards</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 2014-11-06 5:57:18 P.M. Atlantic Standard Time,=20 jimwolford@eastlink.ca writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"= ><FONT=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=3D#000000 size=3D2 face=3D= Arial>I have=20 just read Ken McKenna=E2=80=99s latest posting, as usual full of interes= ting stuff,=20 but here is a question I have wanted to raise for some time now =E2=80= =94 and this=20 will bug some of you, who should sign off now=E2=80=A6.<BR><BR>In recent= times, I have=20 grown tired of trying to know when to apply an =E2=80=9Cs=E2=80=9D to ma= ke a plural vs.=20 =E2=80=9Cknowing=E2=80=9D which species are best left alone when forming= plural numbers. =20 Especially problematic are =E2=80=9Csnipe=E2=80=9D vs. =E2=80=9Csnipes= =E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cwoodcock=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Cteal=E2=80=9D etc.=20 etc. I with my =E2=80=9Ccommon-sense=E2=80=9D rules of grammar hav= e decided to just=20 Anglicize all bird names by adding =E2=80=9Cs=E2=80=9D or =E2=80=9Ces=E2= =80=9D to all of them, as some of you=20 have noted when I write =E2=80=9Cteals=E2=80=9D, e.g.<BR><BR>What say th= e rest of you? or does=20 anyone care? Is this important to anyone?<BR><BR>Cheers from Jim= in=20 Wolfville.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML> --part1_76349.633940e7.418d5077_boundary--
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