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Weird Plurals Lyrics by Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

2012

Hi! Welcome to Ask the Editor. I’m Kory Stamper, an Associate Editor at Merriam-Webster.
You may have seen the video in which I discussed the plurals of “octopus.” After I posted, I got a slew of e-mails that said, “But this doesn't explain all these other weird plurals.”
To quote another one of our previous videos, “English is a mongrel of a language.” It began life as a hard-nosed Germanic dialect, was overrun by French-speaking Normans, had a thing for Latin and Greek borrowings, collected whatever linguistic crumbs fell out of its sea-faring merchant classes’ coats, picked up house, moved across a few oceans, eavesdropped on the natives, settled down and invited its poor European and Eastern cousins to live with it, and then learned how to use a computer. You can’t expect a language that’s been that well traveled to be regular.
“Goose” and “moose” are perfect examples of English’s take-what-it-can-from-wherever-it-can history. “Goose” is a word that dates back about 1,000 years to the Old English “gōs.” And in Old English, the plural of “gōs” was “gēs.” Both the singular and plural forms were taken into Middle English and are preserved in modern English as “goose” and “geese.” “Moose,” on the other hand, is a relatively recent addition to the language. It’s about 400 years old, and is borrowed directly from Algonquian—a North American native language that has no resemblance to Old English.
Why would we give “moose” the Old English plural “meese”? Well, we wouldn’t, because by the time “moose” came into English, we made plurals by adding an -s or -es to the ends of nouns. So, then why is the plural of “moose” “moose”? Because in English, we tend to use the singular form as the plural when talking about game animals like “deer” and “elk.” The final -s in “mooses” got dropped and voilà—two “moose.”
English is a dynamic, changing critter, and—contrary to what some people may think—it always has been. Those irregular plurals are evidence of the richness of our profligate, weird language.
For more “episopedes” of Ask the Editor, visit merriam-webster.com.
Credits
Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster

About “Weird Plurals” by Merriam-Webster

Read the complete lyrics to "Weird Plurals" by Merriam-Webster from the album "Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor" in 2012. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Literature.

"Weird Plurals" is performed by Merriam-Webster. from the album "Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor" in 2012 This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "Weird Plurals", explore more songs by Merriam-Webster using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

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"Weird Plurals" appears on "Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor" in 2012.

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