In short, the plural of scissors is, well, scissors. It’s already in the plural form. The word is descended from the Latin cīsōria, which actually did have a singular form: cīsōrium. This evolved into cisoires in Old French, then sisoures in Middle English. And then about a century after it became sisoures, it further evolved to become scissors, influenced by the Medieval… Continue reading What is the plural of scissors?
Category: Word origins
Difference between down the pike and down the pipe
Recently, I heard someone use the phrase “coming down the pipe”. Considering that this phrase is technically wrong, I thought I’d write about it.
Why we must start embracing ain’t
Ain’t isn’t in the dictionary. Ain’t isn’t a real word. Did you ever hear these growing up? Maybe spoken by a teacher or a parent? Today, I’m going to tell you why you need to forget that advice.
Introducing “nibling” and “nephling”
Okay, the title makes it seems as though I made these terms up, but I’ll show you that this, of course, isn’t the case. I’ve talked about gendered language in the past (using they as a third-person, singular pronoun; using Mx; avoiding using sexist pronouns; using woman or female as an adjective). Today, I want… Continue reading Introducing “nibling” and “nephling”
5 things you wanted to know about Mx
In the past, I’ve talked about my preference for Ms over Mrs and Miss. There’s another honorific I wanted to discuss today: Mx.
Is it okay to use “anyways”?
I recently asked for input on words people commonly confuse, and someone said that she often hears people say anyways, presumably instead of anyway. Most dictionaries and grammarians will indicate that anyway is the proper form and that anyways is the slang version of it.
What do I call a month anniversary?
Lovebirds and newlyweds are desperate to celebrate their first anniversary, but waiting an entire year to do so seems daunting. As such, it has become common practice to commemorate monthly milestones as they wait for the clock to slowly tick by. So their first month of the relationship or marriage ends up becoming their “one… Continue reading What do I call a month anniversary?
Difference between business and busyness
Have you ever come across the word “busyness” and thought that it looked wrong? Actually, “busyness” is a real word. In fact, it’s been around for over three centuries. At least. One of the earliest written examples of the word is found in a 1782 letter written by Edward Gibbon, the English historian, writer, and politician: I… Continue reading Difference between business and busyness
Pasteries: is that a real word?
The other day, I encountered a word I had never seen before: Pasteries I quickly checked Google and saw that it actually had over 300,000 search results!
Valentines Day vs. Valentine’s Day
Every so often, I see the phrase “Valentines Day” pop up. I saw it today in fact, and it prompted me to write this short post. The holiday that occurs on 14 February every year is written as Valentine’s Day. Notice the apostrophe. The holiday is originally a Christian feast day—and still is in some… Continue reading Valentines Day vs. Valentine’s Day