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ETHICAL CONUNDRUMS
What is the correct plural of conundrum?
Colin Pidgeon, Derry, N Ireland
- In English : conundrums. It seems obvious really.
Darren, Lancaster
- No, those authorities describe the language at the time they were written. Insisting on giving Latin and Greek words that have become part of the English language their generic plurals is mindless pendantry divorced from simple communication. For instance, 'agenda' is a singular in English but derives from the plural of a Latin gerundive. If you have five meetings you have five agendas. Wake up and smell the English!
Charlie Hartill, London
- Well I, for one, certainly refer to hippopotamuses and referendums because I am a native speaker of modern English. It's also about time we got rid of using 'an' for 'a' in front of a leading 'h' - 'an hotel' and 'an history' are irritating, outdated linguistic conceits.
Howard Rose, Dublin
- Wrong, all of you. The correct plural of 'conundrum' is, of course, 'Notes and Queries'. Now, would anyone care to provide me with the plural of 'overbearing pedants'...?
Garrick Alder, London
- If Mr Moreland could spell my name correctly, I might be inclined to take his criticisms more seriously.
As to suggesting that "octopus" is third declension Greek, that is also nonsense. Why is it not spelled "octopous" in that case? It's a latinised for m of a Greek word like so many others and now it has passed into normal English usage.
Something else I doubt is the back formation of "Magus" from "Magi", since that is a Persian word not a Latin one. This is the same as the fallacy of determining what a word "really means" by establishing an etymology ? that is why the OED relies on citations.
Charlie Hartill, London UK
- Mr Hartill accuses me of nonsense when I say that octopus is 3rd declension Greek. I was simply using "is" as short for "is derived from".
The reason that it is not spelt "octopous" is that in Latin, "ou" is never a diphthong, so that a Latin word "octopous" would have four syllables. When Greek words are transliterated into Latin, the convention is that upsilon alone is represented by the letter y, while the Greek diphthong omicron upsilon is represented by the single letter u. Matters are complicated by a further convention that the 2nd declension nominative masculine ending omicron sigma is Latinised to "-us".
An example of this is the name of Jesus Christ, which in Latin is "Jesus Christus", with Jesus 4th declension and Christus 2nd declension. The Greek form has the spelling Iota eta sigma omicron upsilon sigma Chi rho iota sigma tau omicron sigma.
Pelham Barton, Birmingham UK
- Garrick Alder- the plural of 'overbearing pedants' is, of course, 'overbearing pedants.' The SINGULAR, need I add, is 'overbearing pedant.' Now if we could only find one somewhere I could demonstrate...
Tom Chivers, Oxford UK
- "Similarly, any form of the plural of "conundrum" which conveys the meaning to the intended audience is a correct plural."
Does this mean that "connundrums" is a correct plural? I'm sure it would convey the meaning.
Conrad, London, England
- Dear Conundrums,
Please note that "conundrum" is first attested in Thomas Nashe's _Saffron Walden_ (1596), where it is used as a pejorative term for . . . wait for it . . . *pedants*.
("So will I...driue him to confesse himselfe a Conundrum, who now thinks he hath learning inough to proue the saluation of Lucifer.")
Jonathan Shull, IN, US
- FWIW...Webster's 2nd (the gold standard) gives it as "conundrums" (origin unknown)
H. S, New York, US
- Pure brilliance.
I thought it was conundra, and 'googled' it to check. I confess I am none the wiser, but much happier nevertheless.
C A Marris, London, UK
- I was just looking for a word to rhyme with tundra - but my you all make the study of linguistics sound like fun!
M E, LA USA
- could it be just simply 'conundrum!'
A hard question which the answer will involve a 'pun'=deliberate use of a word having several meanings or the two words having the same sound but different meanings
jodie, perth australia
- De pluralibus certe est disputandum!
JC, Oxford UK
- Guys. Chill. I checked with Microsoft Word, it's "conundrums". Peace.
Chris C., Toronto Canada
- Don't know but I wish the Americans would stop referring to a lot of Lego as Legos.
Emmy, Middlesbrough UK
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