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Egoiste commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ5a2JH_BVE

With Mayor Bloomberg, it's not just that he says "anyways." He seems to think that "ways" is the singular! Bugs the *hell* out of me. I remember him talking about some issue (congestion pricing?) & saying that mass transit was the best *ways* to get around the city. I almost worry that he'll change all the "ONE WAY" street signs to read "ONE WAYS"!

On a few other issues:

I've done both medical & computer editing. In the former, "data" is used as a plural; in the latter, it's usually treated as singular.

In American English, "aluminum" doesn't have a 2nd "i" & is pronounced accordingly. Not sure of how this difference originated.

I think "queue" ("tail" in French) came to mean a line of people because the line looks like a tail rather than because elephants line up nose to tail.

My understanding is that "schism" is pronounced "sism" in relation to splits in the Christian (maybe just Catholic?) Church & "skism" in other contexts.

The phrase "las artes plasticas" in Spanish always sounded strange to me too; same for neuroscientists saying the brain is "plastic." I think that it means flexible, adaptable, & that the substance plastic was named that because it has those characteristics.

And PJBeee, "eggo-EEST" is the French pronunciation of "Egoiste."

[Moderators: I was brief on each topic, if not overall!]

What is the difference, if any, between "toward" and "towards"? Is "towards" a word?

I think "ironical" is a backformation from the legitimate adverbial form of "ironic" which is "ironically".

Speaking of "jeans": the word seems to have its origin in the fact that the coarse fabric used in the making of working blouses came from the city of Gênes (Genoa) in Italy; in its pronounciation by English speaking people, "Toile de Gênes" sounded phonetically like toile "dejeans". Eventually the "de" was dropped, leaving us with "jeans". Conversally, the blue style of the same kind of fabric originated in the town of Nîmes in France, and was known as "toile de Nimes": that locution was eventually contracted as "toile denim". Without the original "s" ending. Go figure.

A queue is a tail in French.
(Think elephants marching in a line, each holding the one ahead's tail with its trunk).

My favorite singular/plural words are the singular, opus; and its plural form, opera.

Patricia and Leonard,

In the corporate world, people are being instructed to "reach out to" so-and-so dozens of times a day. To reach out has, in my lifetime, meant to go out of one's way to help a person in need. Now it is being used to mean simply to contact or to be in touch with.

Another corporatism that has crept into general usage is the phrase "going forward". It's always used in a sentence in which the future is implied; "going forward" adds nothing. In its absence, might someone think that the speaker is talking about the past--"going backward"?

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

When they did those (annoying) commercials for "Egoiste", they pronounced it eggo-EEST.

Leonard, I always want to ask them if they also sold eggo-WEST.

BTW my wife recently corrected me that "ambivelent" doesn't mean you don't care and are ok with either choice, but rather that it means you strongly feel for both choices and thus cannot choose! neat

Use of the royal we.

Did anyone catch Sen. Ted Kennedy as he was returning to the Senate after a long medical leave the other day? He seemed to be using the modest form of the royal "we" rather than "I" in thanking all his wellwishers.

(Of course, it's also possible that the video clips I saw simply left out earlier mention of his staff and/or family in the interview, and he meant "we" to include them.)

Re: melty

The old joke:

Q. "What's brown and sticky?"
A. "A Stick"

"Plastic" when talking about art....It comes from the French. It means something like "real materials in 3 dimensions".........

Certificat d'Etudes d'Arts Plastique

It gives me a headache, too, trying to figure out what is meant in plain English.

------- More use of the word/concept:
"Victorian performance style known as "poses plastiques' mastered the art of manipulating the body into highly stylised and apparently motionless 'attitudes' to resemble so-called 'living statues'. "

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1505414761.html

Tweezer, plier, and scissor have noun entries in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate 11th ed.
Could "tweezers" and "pliers" be derivatives of "the instrument of the person who tweezes/plies"? (So tweezers = the tweezer's tool.")

Scissor could be the noun for the instrument that scissors. (Q: What is that thing used for? A: It scissors.)

I was taught that an egoist is someone who is very self-centered, while an egotist is someone who talks about him or herself excessively. Hence the t for talk in egotist.

Yes, Egoiste was a cologne made by a philosopher. If you consider Chanel a philosopher!

(I don't know how to add the accents to "Egoiste")

Question: Is the correct word "empathic" or "empathetic"??

Thanks.

Why do people now say "the below list," instead of the list below. It makes me nuts!!!

Could you adress why people are using the word "irregardless" instead of "regardless"?

Upwards of means (to me, anyway) *that amount* or MORE, not less.

Wondering about the common use of slow, tight and the like as in hold on tight, or go slow. I was taught it was tightly or slowly

Am I the only one that's EXTREMELY bothered by the word "melty", introduced into common use by Taco Bell to describe their products? Did this word exist before Taco Bell started using it?

With regard to "It is I" spoken by a visitor, recall the line "It is I, Ensign Pulver!" spoken by Jack Lemmon in the film "Mr. Roberts."

a (singular) scissor kick requires two legs???

'School' has a 'ka' for the 'ch'
and so it is for schism', Scheme, scholastic...
What is the righ way to pronounce 'Schedule'

2 comments from the German.

Plurals: pants in German can be addressed to by both die Hose (singular) or die Hosen (plural), and the English speaker of course notices why the plural (two hoses).

I or me? No German speaker ever has problems with this grammatical relict from older Germanic, because it's still active with ALL nouns and pronouns in German, not just the pronoun I. (In German there are actually two "me"'s, mir and mich, because they have two objective cases.)

The French plural for a pair of scissors [une paire de ciseaux] is a true plural. The singluar, ciseau, means chisel.

It's not a back-formation.

And yes, while the rest of us stand "in line," New Yorkers stand "on line." I've lived here for 24 years and I still haven't gotten used to it.

Re Russian for "clock" in plural: I'm not sure what Philip's (#8) Russian teacher was up to, but the Russian for "clock" - "chasy" - is simply the plural of the word for "hour" - "chas". So a clock is "the hours."

Queue...where does this come from? How does it come to mean to line up?

Why don't Americans pronounce the last "i" in Aluminium?

I've notice in the baseball world some sportscasters have started to use the term RBI as both the singular and the plural (as in he had 3 RBI in the game, instead of 3 RBI's). It sounds strange to me. It seems to me that an RBI has become its own thing and therefore can have an "s" when making the plural.

What is the origin of saying that one thing or another "informs" the work, as artists often say.
It kind of rankles me and seems hauty.

To answer the Levi's Question.
Levi Strauss & Co. has several different brands one of which is Levi's. This is the trade marked name for their denim division. Dockers is a different division of the Levi Strauss Company. So I think that the coupon restricts the purchase of both jeans and Dockers.

I know we are supposed to say "There are a lot of apples in this bag." But aren't we referring to a singular object "a lot", and therefore, shouldn't it be "There is a lot of apples in this bag." ?????

Is it "on line" or "in line"???...

When I'm at the bank, at Duane Reade or any other place where I am waiting in a line of other people, it is my understanding that there is a line of people IN WHICH I am standing, as opposed to a line painted on the floor ON WHICH I am standing.

So when I hear "... next on line," I tend to cringe a bit.

about "a whole nother": this phrase really means something different from "another whole." You'd have to say something like "a completely different" to get the same meaning as "a whole nother." After consideration I've decided to stick with "a whole nother" for casual conversation.

Please help me solve this pressing issue! My family and I have been engaged in a years-long, extremely heated argument about the phrase "upwards of," as in "they raised upwards of $2,000." I maintain that because it includes the word "of" it refers to anything above the number mentioned. My parents maintain that it refers to anything below and leading up to the number in question. This needs to be resolved, or I fear my family may fall apart!

Levi's is a brand name that has an apostrophe--the jeans are "Levi's" made by Levi Strauss & Co.

Dockers brand is known as Dockers, not Levi's Dockers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dockers

Sounds to me like the coupon was missing a comma, and the apostrophe had nothing to do with it. I still think you should have gotten the discount though!

(12) claudia from new jersey...if your question is not taken, I can explain. It's the subjunctive mood, which isn't commonly taught but is in fact correct. "If I were..." is a conditional clause. It's taught more frequently in foreign languages; e.g., French.

I know the language is changing but I don't think the use of it's for both it + is and for the possessive pronoun (of it) can be considered correct. What do you think?

Also, I too noticed Obama's misuse of the subject pronoun I. Hmm. Not good.

Patricia, Leonard:

Could you comment on the common usage these days of the possessive versus objective personal pronoun. Every day, I hear people say, for example, something to the effect: I went out to dinner with a friend of "his"...or with a friend of "Bill's." I learned that it is correct to use the objective pronoun following a preposition, in this case "with." I went out to dinner with a friend of Bill (or him).

Thanks!

What are the rules for the use of the word "data"?
The word data is plural (the singular version is "datum"), and yet many people use the word "data" to describe a single bit of information.

Here's a nother for you: weren't aprons originally naprons? A napron, which was tied at the nape of the neck, lost its N to the article, which is not, however, a narticle.

I have been dying to ask someone this. I have lived all over the US in my 34 years of living. It wasn't until I moved to New York City that I heard people saying "I'm standing ON line"..or hearing a clerk shouting "next ON line, please!"

I have always referred to it as being IN line. I think of being ON line as being on the internet. I have asked native New York City-ers which version they tend to use, and it is always the "ON line" version. When I ask non native New Yorkers, they say IN line.

It's just something I noticed. Has anyone else noticed this?
: )

On the "Levi's Dockers" issue. Shouldn't the matter really revolve around the presence of a comma? In other words the difference between "Levis, Dockers" which would be a list of excluded items including both Levis and Dockers where as "Levi's Dockers" would be more of a brand/sub-brand exclusion.

I don't know about you, but I refer to the tool as a "pair of pliers" rather than just "pliers."

"Levi's" is a brand name of Levi Strauss (including the apostrophe and the "s"). In any event, your caller does have a point.

"If I were" could you please explain why the first person future conditional uses the plural form of the verb to be. (he/she/it you singular as well)
"If I was" is commonly used, but is it correct?
thank you - love this segment

in the case of something like tweezers is it a case of being plural or the tool used to execute a verb? the tweezers tweeze? or would the verb be derived from the tool itself?

Eyeglasses in Dutch is "bril" which also means "toilet seat"....Really! Similar shape.

Brassiere in Dutch is also "busthouder" or "bust holder"..........

P.S. Love your show!

Tangentially related...the German word for nipple translates to "breast wart."

In Russian, clock is plural (tchasy, stress on the y), because, as my teacher explained, it has many little wheels.

Among a growing number of folk our president elect Obama overcorrects his accusative. "This is a wonderful day for Michelle and I." Is there hope?

What does it appear to be nearly impossible to "refer to" anything anymore? I have noticed that increasingly, rather than "referring to" something, commentators on television, radio, and in print, prefer to "reference" something. It sounds wrong to me! Is it wrong? Is there a difference between the two usages?
I love this segment with Ms. O'Connor!
Thank you!

I work in fashion and I am totally annoyed when other designers refer to a pair of jeans or shorts or pants in the singular. This is now the more common usage. I feel it is done out of laziness and to lessen any confusion that might arise regarding quantity. When you here pant you know its meant as a single garment and not the entire stock of pants. It still annoys me but Marc Naimark from Paris has enlightened me to the French way of saying these garments. Because of the connection that fashion has to Paris I will begrudgingly accept this singular pronunciation. It sounds wrong to me in English but so does "an" before words that begin with H.

Ann From Manhattan,

What about "admiration" or "inspiration" for being happy for another's good fortune while wishing for something similar for one's self (oneself?)?

Here's one for Ms. O’Conner, please, if she'd be so kind:

A pair of scientists in one of Leonard's recent--characteristically fascinating--shows distinguished between "jealousy" and "envy." The former requires a triad (a la jealous lovers) and the latter requires that one begrudge another's good fortune (said the scientists).

So then is there a word for being happy for another's good fortune while wishing for something similar for oneself? Is there a word for envy without the sour grapes, if you will?

I used to use "jealousy" for this. Now I'm kind of stuck.

Thanks for great shows!!

I'm guessing that a pair of glasses vs. a monocle.

And brassiere in French is "soutien-gorge" or throat supporter.

Dictionary snippets:
-----
glasses. A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes. b. Often glasses . A binocular or field glass. c. A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision.
--------
brassiere (bre-zîr´) noun
A woman's undergarment worn to support and give contour to the breasts.

[French, child's jacket with sleeves, brassiere : Old French bras, arm (from Latin brâcchium, from Greek brakhion, upper arm) + -iere, one associated with.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation. All rights reserved.

Hello Leonard, Hello Patricia,

I smiled at the brassiere comment. I have to think that it has to do with embarrassment at noting the dual nature of the contents of a brassiere. In French, a strange thing happens to those plural garments: they get singularized. A pair of jeans becomes "un jean", a pair of shorts becomes "un short", etc.